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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A YEAR OF SACRED SONG 



$ ^ear of ^acreti ^oug 

WITH SELECTIONS IN PROSE 
FROM SOURCES OLD AND NEW 
BY MARTHA CAPPS "OLIVER 
AND WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
WATER-COLOUR SKETCHES BY 

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l^etp Sorft 

RAPHAEL TUCK AND SONS 

COMPANY, LIMITED 

MDCCCXCV 




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Copyright, fSgj, by 

Raphael Tuck and Sons 

Company, Limited 



preface 



AS little children gather shells from the pebbly 
beach, and hold them to their ears to catch the 
murmurs of the mighty sea, so we gather these 
pearl-texts from the shore of Divine Love, and, 
listening with the spirit, catch the message from 
the sea of eternity which is breaking at our feet. 

M. C. O. 



®\)t &tynott. 



WHOEVER SINGS HIS SONG ARIGHT, 
MUST CATCH THE KEYNOTE FIRST, 

THEN WILL THE PERFECT STRAIN ASCEND, 
AND INTO RAPTURE BURST. 

AND IN THE SCALE OF EVERY LIFE 

THIS NOTE RUNS THROUGH AND THROUGH — 

NO TONES CAN MAKE A PERFECT CHORD 
UNLESS THE KEY BE TRUE. 

THE SECRET OF ALL HIGH RENOWN, 

OF WORTH OR HONEST FAME — 
WHAT IS IT BUT THE ECHO TRUE 

OF SURE AND LOFTY AIM? 

WE TOUCH THE VIBRANT KEYS OF SOUL 

WITH SPIRIT-FINGER FINE, 
AND ALL THE HARMONIES OF LIFE 

BLEND IN A CHORD DIVINE. 

EACH SOUL MUST SET ITS SONG OF LIFE, 

IN OCTAVE LOW OR HIGH, 
AND HE WHOSE STRAIN IS TRULY KEYED 

SHALL HEAR IT IN THE SKY. 

WHATEVER NOTE OUR LIPS ESSAY, 

WHATE'ER THE THEME MAY BE, 
WITH LISTENING HEART AND EAR ATTENT, 

SO MAY WE TAKE OUR KEY ! 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 




/W H 



[ft<y>&!/ 



a gear of ^acreti ^ong 

gjamiar^ 

jftot SDay 

Z^zzY, I say, on the Lord. — Psalm 27 : 14. 

'J ¥"NOTHER year of progress, another year 
f \ of praise, 
^"" Another year of proving His presence all 

the days ; 
Another year of service, of witness for His love ; 
Another year of training for holier work above. 

Thank God, He gives no endless way 
But lays His hand across the road, 

Calls many a halt and bids thee stay 
And rest thee of thy load. 

He is too full of grace to deal 
A breathless road that never swerves ; 

But all things turn and pause and wheel 
In restful, joyful curves. 

Busy souls, try, this year, to see what you can 
make of the broken fragments of time. Glean up 
its precious dust, those leavings of days and rem- 
nants of hours, which so many are sweeping out 
into the vast waste of existence. Perhaps, if you 
be a miser of moments and half-hours and unex- 
pected holidays, your careful garnerings may ensure 
you a full and profitable life, and you may become 
richer in knowledge than those whose time is all 
their own. phillips brooks. 

[1] 



g»etonD 2Pa? 

Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall 
praise Thee. — Psalm 63 : 3. 

GRAVE on thy heart each past "red-letter" 
day! 
Forget not all the sunshine of the way 
By which the Lord hath led thee ; answered prayers 
And joys unasked, strange blessings, lifted cares, 
Grand promise — echoes ! Thus thy life shall be 
One record of His love and faithfulness to thee. 

HAVERGAL. 

Into all our lives, in many simple, familiar ways, 
God infuses this element of joy from the surprises 
of life, which unexpectedly brighten our days, and 
fill our eyes with light. He drops this added sweet- 
ness into His children's cup, and makes it to run 
over. The success we were not counting on, the 
blessing we were not trying after, the strain of music 
in the midst of drudgery, the beautiful morning- 
picture or sunset glory thrown in as we pass to or 
from our daily business, the unsought word of en- 
couragement or expression of sympathy, the sen- 
tence that meant more for us than the writer or 
speaker thought, — these and a hundred others that 
every one's experience can supply are instances of 
what I mean. 

You may call it accident or chance — it often is ; 

you may call it human goodness — it often is ; but 

always, always call it God's love, for that is always 

in it. These are His free gifts. — s. longfellow. 

[2] 



Take, therefore, no thought of the morrow ; for the morrow 
shall take thought for the things of itself . — S. Matthew 6 : 24. 

THE New Year has a smiling face, 
But tells no tales of what may be ; 
In silent power he takes his place, 

And wraps him in uncertainty. 
And yet some things I count upon, 
Which he must give ere he be gone ! 

I count upon some tears to shed, 

Some sleepless nights, some weary days, 

Some heaviness of heart and head, 
Some thorny paths, some stony ways ; 

These, more or less, for every one, 
But joy and rest when all is done. 

The love of God I count upon, 

As on the mountains in their strength, 

It has not failed in the years gone, 

It will last on through all life's length ; 

I cannot count on my own love, 
But His is sure as Heaven above. 

Has the New Year a secret face ? 

There are some things, he cannot hide, 
Welcome him all, and give him place: 

Long as he can he may abide ! 
He has surprises for us ? Well, 

We trust him — he the rest shall tell ! 

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM. 

[3] 



January 

jpourtl) 2Da^ 

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom. — Psalm 90 : 12. 

SO, here hath been dawning another blue day, 
Think, wilt thou then let it slip useless away? 
Out of eternity this new day is born; 
Into eternity at night will return. 

CARLYLE. 

To shape the whole future is not our problem; 
but to shape faithfully only a part of it, according 
to rules already known. It is perhaps possible 
for each of us, who will with due earnestness 
inquire, to ascertain clearly what he, for his own 
part, ought to do; this let him, with true heart, 
do, and continue doing. The general issue will, 
as it has always done, rest well with a Higher In- 
telligence than ours. . . . This day thou knowest 
ten commanded duties, seest in thy mind ten 
things which should be done for one thou doest ! 

Do one of them; this of itself will show thee ten 
others which can and shall be done. — carlyle. 

Sufficient for each day is the good thereof, equally 
as the evil. We must do at once, and with our 
might, the merciful deed that our hand fmdeth to 
do, — else it will never be done, for the hand will 
find other tasks to do, and the arrears fall through. 

And every unconsummated good feeling, every 
unfulfilled purpose that His spirit has prompted, 
shall one day charge us as faithless and recreant 
before God. — j. h. thom. 
[4] 



jftftl) Da? 

Ponder the path of thy feet. — Proverbs 4 : 26. 

LIFE is before ye, — from the certain road 
Ye cannot turn : then take ye up your load. 
Not yours to tread or leave the unknown way, 
Ye must go o'er it, meet ye what ye may. 

A sacred burden is this life to bear, — 
To suffer then is nobler than to dare. 
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly, 
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly; 
Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, 
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win; 
Stop not for sloth, nor yet for pleasure stray; 
God guard ye, and God guide ye on your way. 

BUTLER. 

Take life earnestly. Take it an earnest, vital, 
essential matter. Take it just as though you 
personally were born to the task of performing a 
noble task in it — as though the world had waited 
for your coming. Take it as though it was a grand 
opportunity to do and to achieve, to carry forward 
great and good schemes : to help and cheer a suffer- 
ing, weary, it may be a heart-broken, brother. 
The fact is, life is undervalued by a great majority 
of mankind. It is not made half as much of as 
should be the case. Now and then a man stands 
aside from the crowd, labors earnestly, steadfastly, 
confidently, and straightway becomes famous. 

ROYAL PATH OF LIFE. 
[5] 



s 



Wherefore let him that thinketh he slandeth take heed lest he 
f a ll — i Corinthians 10: 12. 

you fell just now in the mud, poor heart! 
^J And to try to rise and be clean is vain? 
Take both my hands now, and do your part; 

So — you stand on your feet again. 

Did nobody tell you your feet might slip? 

Did some one push you? (such things are done !) 
Was your path so rough that you needs must slip? 

Ah ! the blame is on many — not one. 

Sobbing still over that ugly stain! 

1 may not comfort or hush you, dear ! 
Through such sad tears in their burning rain 

Christ and His cross show clear. 

Must you go sorrowing all your day? 

Sweet, in suffering souls grow white : 
Keep my hand through this stony way — 

See where the west turns bright. 

Always put the best interpretation on a tenet. 
Why not on Christianity, wholesome, sweet, and 
poetic? It is the record of a pure and holy soul, 
humble, absolutely disinterested, a truth- speaker, 
and bent on serving, teaching, and uplifting men. 
Christianitv taught the capacity, the element, to 
love the All-perfect without a stingy bargain for 
personal happiness. It taught that to love him 
was happiness,— to love him in other's virtues. 

EMERSON. 
[6] 



lamias 

g>etout) E>a? 

/ know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, 
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 
— Jeremiah 29 : 2. 

A LITTLE flower so lowly grew, 
So lonely was it left, 
That heaven looked like an eye of blue, 
Down in its rocky cleft. 

What could the little flower do, 

In such a darksome place, 
But try to reach the eye of blue 

And climb to kiss heaven's face? 

And there's no life so lone and low 
But strength may still be given, 

From narrowest lot on earth to grow 
The straighter up to heaven. 

GERALD MASSEY. 

A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, 
and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can 
do for it, is not in so sure a way of its growth to 
perfection, as every man may be, whose spirit as- 
pires after all that which God is ready and infi- 
. nitely desirous to give him. For the sun meets not 
the springing bud that stretches toward him with 
half that certainty, as God, the source of all good, 
communicates Himself to the soul that longs to 
partake of Him. — william law. 
[7] 



Am I my brother's keeper ? — Genesis 4 : 9. 

A SINGLE word is a little thing, 
But a soul may be dying before our eyes 
For lack of the comfort a word may bring, 

With its welcome help and its sweet surprise. 
A kindly look costs nothing at all, 

But a heart may be starving for just one glance, 
That shall show by the eyelids' tender fall 
The help of a pitying countenance. 

It is easy enough to bend the ear 

To catch some tale of sore distress; 
For men may be fainting beside us here 

For longing to share their weariness; 
These gifts nor gold nor silver may buy, 

Nor wealth alone can love bestow, 
But the comfort of word or ear or eye 

The poorest may offer wherever he go. 

C. F. RICHARDSON. 

How many are the sufferers who have fallen 
amongst misfortunes along the wayside of life! 
"By chance" we come that way; chance, acci- 
dent, Providence has thrown them in our way; 
we see them from a distance, like the Priest, or 
we come upon them suddenly, like the Levite; our 
business, our pleasure, is interrupted by the sight, 
is troubled by the delay; what are our feelings, 
what our actions towards them? . . . "Who is 
thy neighbor? " It is the sufferer, whoever, wher- 
ever, whatsoever he may be. — a. p. Stanley. 
[8] 



3januari? 

^tntlj sr>ap 

We will remember thy love. — Song of Solomon 1 : 4. 

WHAT thousands and millions of recollec- 
tions there must be in us ! And every 
now and then one of them becomes known to us; 
and it shows us what spiritual depths are growing 
in us, what mines of memory. ... In some age 
or other, I shall say of some heavenly marvel, per- 
haps, " It is wonderful, wonderful ! And yet in 
the earth it was hinted to me, by the tones of the 
wind, and the way the clouds went over my head." 
I think, perhaps every sight in the world that now 
is may avail in the world that is to come. On the 
golden floor of heaven, it may be the better for 
me that I have noticed even the worm's way in 
and out of the earth. It may be that some of our 
little observations now will open into wonderful 
knowledge hereafter. A plant comes out of the 
ground a little bud. It opens and grows and blos- 
soms and seeds, and then dies. Now there is 
much more in this than I know of yet; much, very 
much more. If I knew all that is to be learned 
from a daisy even, I should be less of a stranger 
to God than I am. But I shall know it sometime. 
All about me, tree unto tree is uttering speech, 
and flower unto flower is showing knowledge. 
But it is in a language that I do not well under- 
stand, but which I shall remember; and so which 
I shall learn the whole meaning of hereafter. 

WILLIAM MOUNTFORD. 
[9] 



£emlj muy 

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among 
you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange 
thing happened unto you : but insomuch as ye are partakers 
of Chrisfs suffering, rejoice ; that at the revelation of his 
glory also ye may rejoice zvith exceeding joy. If ye are re- 
proached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye ; because the 
Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. — 
i Peter 4: 12-14. 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, 
that he i7iay exalt you in due time ; casting all your care 
upon him, for he careth for you. — I Peter 5 : 7. 

WE have need of all our crosses. When we 
suffer much it is because we have strong 
ties which it is necessary to loosen. We resist 
and thus retard the divine purpose; we repulse 
the heavenly hand and it must be laid upon us 
again and again. If we would at once bring our- 
selves into harmony with divine will, our crosses 
would seem light and our burdens easy to be borne. 

Glad or sad, a dwindling span 
Is the little life of man. 
Love and hope and work and tears 
Fly before the flying years. 

•Yet shall tremulous hearts grow bold — 
All the story is not told — 
For around us as a sea 
Spreads God's great eternity. 

CHRISTIAN BURKE. 



[10] 



Let your loins be girded about and your light burning. — 
S. Luke 12:8. 

A Prayer for the New Year. 

OLORD, thou art the God of our fathers, 
the King eternal, immortal, invisible; we 
would bless thee at all times, in sorrow and in 
joy, in privation and in plenty, in life and in 
death, in time and in eternity. And now, with a 
new sense of gratefulness, with glad memories of 
the old year that is gone, and with hopeful confi- 
dence in view of the new year that has begun, we 
come afresh to thy feet; to thee who hast crowned 
the year with thy goodness; to thee whose years 
do not change; to thee who hast declared that thy 
Son, our Mediator and Redeemer, is the same 
yesterday, and to-day, and forever. With thank- 
fulness for past mercies, with the prayer that our 
times may ever be in thy hands in the future; 
with the consecration of our lives anew to thy ser- 
vice, and pleading that thy mercy shall be shown 
toward our sins, that thy care shall be around us 
forever, that our lives shall be fashioned after the 
image of our Lord, that we may be solaced and 
comforted in all our toils, and cares, and griefs, 
and dangers of the coming year with thy continual 
presence, even thus, O Lord our Father, we come 
to thee. 

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. 



®toclfti) spa? 

The acceptable year of the Lord. — S. Luke 6: 19. 

THE issues of life concentrate themselves into 
a few special points of opportunity. The 
success and failure of life depend upon whether 
these opportunities are grasped when they present 
themselves, or whether they are neglected and 
permitted to pass. Life's greatest opportunities 
are not like the great ships which sail from the 
chief ports of the world, which sail and come 
again, and sail at stated intervals from the same 
ports. The great chances touch once at the pier 
of our lives, throw out the planks of opportunity 
over which our feet may pass, ring their signal 
bells in our ears, and then sail out of the harbor 
and away into the eternal sea and never come 
again. The little chances linger and return, but 
the great chances come and go and never come 
again. ... If with illumined sight we could 
look back over the lives of the people by whom 
we are surrounded, how many great and rich op- 
portunities would we see that they have permitted 
to drift by them unimproved! 

J. T. McFARLAND. 

There is a tide in the affairs of men 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

SHAKESPEARE. 

[12] 



31auuar? 

/ the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto 
thee, Fear not; I will help thee. — Isaiah 12: 13. 

WE never have more than we can bear. The 
present hour we are always able to endure. 
As our day, so is our strength. If the trials of 
many years were gathered into one, they would 
overwhelm us; therefore, in pity to our little 
strength, He sends first one, then another, then 
removes both, and lays on a third, heavier, per- 
haps, than either; but all is so wisely measured to 
our strength that the bruised reed is never broken. 
We do not enough look at our trials in this contin- 
uous and successive view. — h. e. manning. 

He chose this path for thee. 
No feeble chance, nor hard, relentless fate, 

But love, His love, hath placed thy footsteps here; 
He knew the way was rough and desolate, 

He knew the heart would often sink with fear; 
Yet tenderly He whispers, " Child, I see 
This path is best for thee ! " 

He chose this path for thee, 
Though well He knew sharp thorns would tear thy 
feet, 
Knew how the branches would obstruct thy way, 
Knew all the hidden dangers thou wouldst meet, 
Knew how thy faith would falter day by day; 
And still the whisper echoed, "Yes, I see 
This path is best for thee ! " 
[13] 



3|amiari? 

§fouxtttnt\) 2Dap 

I will guide thee with mine eye. — Psalm 37 : 8. 

SO I sang in childhood's days, 
"Father, thou shalt guide me.' 
So I sang in darker ways, 
Whatsoever betide me. 
Young feet turn so oft aside, 
But the older need a guide, 
And I pray 
Every day, 
Father, Father, guide me. 

Thou hast led o'er mountain slope, 

And in deeper hollow; 
Thee through many a vale of hope 

Have I learned to follow. 
In the dark and in the light, 
Gladsome dawn and blackest night, 
I have been 
In changing scene, 
Safe with thee to guide me. 

Now I wait, as oft before, 

Where the way is hidden; 
Till the journey shall be o'er 

I will go as bidden; 
Naught there is for me to fear 
When I know that thou art near. 
Here I stand, 
Take my hand, 
O, my Father, guide me. 



jfifteentl) auap 

Thy kindness to thy friend. — 2 Samuel 16: 17. 

HAVE you ever noticed how much of Christ's 
life was spent in doing kind things — in 
merely doing kind things? Run over it with that 
in view, and you will find that He spent a great 
proportion of His time simply in making people 
happy, in doing good turns to people. There is 
only one thing greater than happiness in the world, 
and that is holiness; and it is not in our keeping; 
but what God has put in our power is the happi- 
ness of those about us, and that is largely to be 
secured by our being kind to them. 

"The greatest thing," says some one, "a man 
can do for his Heavenly Father, is to be kind to 
some of His other children." I wonder why it is 
that we are not all kinder than we are? How 
much the world needs it. How easily it is done. 
How instantaneously it acts. How infallibly it is 
remembered. How superabundantly it pays itself 
back — for there is no debtor in the world so hon- 
ourable, so superbly honourable, as Love. 

HENRY DRUMMOND. 

Kindness is stored away in the heart like rose- 
leaves in a drawer, to sweeten every object around 
them. Little drops of rain brighten the meadows 
and little acts of kindness brighten the world. We 
can conceive of nothing more attractive than the 
heart when filled with the spirit of kindness. 
[15] 



Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope 
the Lord is. — Psalm 17:7. 

HOPE makes even the struggle of the daily 
life and the wear and tear of it " not like 
the convict's trample on the world's great tread- 
mill, but like an ascent on the luminous steps of 
duty to the very gates of heaven." "O blessed 
hope," exclaims Thomas Carlyle, "whereby on 
man's straight prison walls are painted beautiful, 
far-stretching landscapes; and into the night of 
every death is shed holiest dawn." 

The great doers have always been great hopers. 
. . . Loss of hope, when the heart dies and the 
courage fails, and the hands hang listlessly, and 
a man begins only and sadly to drudge — this, the 
loss of hope, is the blackest loss. We should 
always hope because the promises are. 

" I stood amazed and whispered, ' Can it be 
That he hath granted all the boon I sought? 
How wonderful that he for me hath wrought ! 
How wonderful that he hath answered me ! ' 
O faithful heart ! He said that he would hear 
And answer thy poor prayer; and he hath heard 
And proved his promise! Wherefore didst thou 

fear? 
Why marvel that thy Lord had kept his word? 
More wonderful if he should fail to bless 
Expectant faith and prayer with good success." 

WAYLAND HOVT. 
[16] 



&tbmttmt\) SDap 

For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh, find- 
eth. — S. Matthew 7 : 8. 

ARE you weak? Ask for strength. Are you 
sad? Ask God and He will be your solace. 
Are you distrustful and in darkness? He will be 
a lamp to your feet. Are you indifferent? Seek, 
and a new impulse shall be given your energy; 
God's image shall fill your heart. 

Fight the fight, Christian! Jesus is o'er thee; 
Run the race, Christian! heaven is before thee; 
He who hath promised faltereth never; 
He will sustain you now and forever. 

Upon a crutch — her girlish face 
Alight with love and tender grace — 
Laughing she limps from place to place, 
Upon a crutch. 

And you and I, who journey through 
A rose-leaf world of dawn and dew, 
We cry to heaven overmuch, 

We rail and frown at fate, while she 
And many more in agony, 
Are brave and patient, strong and true, 
Upon a crutch. 

ROBERT LOVEMAN. 

Do not be too moral. . . . Aim above moral- 
ity. Be not simply good; be good for something. 

THOREAU. 

[17] 



Manila*? 

<D;igl)teentl) 2Pa? 

She hath done what she could. — S. Mark 14 : 8. 

IT is not mine to run 
With eager feet 
Along life's crowded ways, 
My Lord to meet. 

He hath no need of me 
In grand affairs, 

Where fields are lost, or crowns 
Won unawares. 

Yet Master, if I may 
Make one pale flower 

Bloom brighter for thy sake, 
Through one short hour; 

Or sing one high, clear song, 
On which may soar 

Some glad soul heavenward, 
I ask no more. 

JULIA C. R. DORR. 

Love's secret is to be always doing things for 
God, and not to mind because they are such very 
little ones. — f. w. faber. 

My place of lowly service too, 

Beneath Thy sheltering wings I see, 

For all the work I have to do, 

Is done through sheltering rest in Thee. 

ANNA L. WARIN. 

[18] 



3Iamtary 

0nttcmt\) soap 

Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. — 
i Thessalonians 4: 14. 

AN awe of death we were meant to have ; and 
fears of it have their use. Down the valley 
of the shadow of death do dreadful mists arise; 
then let the thought of God shine out from my 
soul, and it will glorify the mists, and make them 
golden with the light of heaven. Our life is a 
dying daily, as Paul says; and at the longest, it is 
not such a very long death. For a man may be 
ever so young and strong, yet it is likely the wood 
is growing in which he will be coffined; and there 
is a divine dial-plate, on which the hour of his 
death is pointed to; and what is to be his grave 
will be his grave; and his body is waited for. 

But do I not live in God? And shall I be afraid 
of dying in God? Is it I that keep my heart go- 
ing? And ought I then to dread its stopping? 
Rather what I ought to fear is the will which it 
does beat with, — the Divine will. 

WILLIAM MOUNTFORD. 

Sleep is a death. O, make me try, 
By sleeping, what it is to die ! 
And as gently lay my head 
On my grave, as now my bed. 
Howe'er I rest, great God, let me 
Awake again at last with Thee ! 

WILLIAM MOUNTFORD. 
[19] 



He that taketh not up his cross and follozveth after me is not 
worthy of me. — S. Matthew 10:38. 

I WOULD follow after Christ because I have 
heard Him speak a natural language, and be- 
cause I have heard beating in His heart the heart 
of all. Therefore He is not a person for me who 
was, and is no more, but the eternal contemporary 
of us all, the symbol of a spirit which rests with 
us always. The visible truths of the human and 
divine Evangel rise every morning on my hori- 
zon, like new luminaries. I salute and adore 
them with the same admiration as if I were seeing 
them for the first time. Miracles, dogmas, strange- 
ness of forms, which worried me at first, worry me 
no longer. Across them all I see only one thing, 
— " man in search of God, God in search of 
man." 

Nearer my God to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee, 
E'en though it be a cross 

That raiseth me. 
Still all my prayer shall be, 
Nearer my God to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee. 

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS. 

Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fra- 
grance as before a storm. Beauteous soul ! when 
a storm approaches thee be as fragrant as a sweet- 
smelling flower. — RICHTER. 



Who is among you that feareih the Lord, that obeyeth the 
voice of his servant, that zvalketh in darkness, and hath no 
light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon 
his God. — Isaiah I : 10. 

HE has an especial tenderness of love towards 
thee for that thou art in the dark and hast 
no light, and His heart is glad when thou dost 
arise and say, " I will go to my Father." For He 
sees thee through all the gloom, through which 
thou canst not see Him. 

Say to Him, " I am very dull and low and hard ; 
but Thou art wise and high and tender, arid Thou 
art my God. I am Thy child. Forsake me not." 
Then fold the arms of thy faith in quietness until 
light goes up in the darkness. Fold the arms of 
thy Faith I say, but not of thy Action; bethink 
thee of something thou oughtest to do, and go and 
do it, if it be but the sweeping of a joom, or the 
preparing of a meal, or a visit to a friend : heed 
not thy feelings : do thy work. 

GEORGE MACDONALD. 

Hold thy murmurs, heaven arraigning, 
The patient see God's loving face; 

Who bear their burdens uncomplaining, 
'Tis they who win the Father's grace. 

He wounds himself who braves the rod, 

And sets himself to fight with God. 

[21] 



gjamtari? 

And that ye study to be quiet. — I Thessalonians 4: n. 

I CHARGE my thoughts be humble still, 
And all my conduct mild; 
Content, my Father, with Thy will, 
And quiet as a child. 

Unite, my roving thoughts, unite 

In silence soft and sweet; 
And thou, my soul, sit gently down 

At thy great Sovereign's feet. 

DODDRIDGE. 

Let your words be few, especially when your 
superiors or strangers are present, lest you betray 
your own weakness, and rob yourself of the op- 
portunity which you might otherwise have had to 
gain knowledge, wisdom, and experience by hear- 
ing those whom you silenced by your own talking. 

SIR MATTHEW HALE. 

Not only to say the right thing in the right 
place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid 
the wrong thing at the tempting moment. — sala. 

Of every noble work the silent part is best; 
Of all expression that which cannot be expressed. 

w. w, STORY. 
Govern the lips 

As they were palace doors, the King within. 
Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words 
Which from that presence win. 

EDWIN ARNOLD. 

[22] 



GPtomt^rtjut! spay 

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
God in Jesus Christ. — Philemon 3:14. 

I PRESS toward the mark for the prize is there, 
And the Lord Himself will give it, — 
Oh, this life is bright and this life is fair, 

If we know but how to live it; 
But the life above is the best of all 
If our Father's house our own we call 
And the prize we all at last would claim 
Is a starry crown, in the Saviour's name. 

IDA SCOTT TAYLOR. 

Mighty have been the contests of strength, 
famous the victories which have declared their 
ends; but to achieve mastery over self is man's 
greatest and grandest victory. Moral energy, 
tempered in the heat of adversity, is the great 
engine-force which is moving the world, and, 
united with Christianity, is making the nineteenth 
century the manhood of the race. As men have 
risen in stature of morality, they have demanded 
higher measures and estimates of that stature, 
and following the fainter rays of this lesser light 
they have come nearer a that greater light, that 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 

Man should do nothing that he should repent; 
But if he have, and say that he is sorry, 
It is a worse fault if he be not truly. 

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. 
[23] 



•January 

3ft»ftit£:ft»uttt) 2Pa? 

Blessed are the dead tvhich die in the Lord from henceforth : 
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; 
and their works do follow them. — Revelation 14: 13. 
And God shall wipe azuay all tears from their eyes ; and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
are passed away. — Revelation 21:4. 

" ^LEEP soft, beloved!" we sometimes say, 
v3 But have no time to charm away 
Sad dreams that through the eyelids creep; 

But never doleful dream again 

Shall break the happy slumber when 
"He giveth His beloved sleep." 

MRS. BROWNING. 

Shall they forget us because they are "made 
perfect"? Shall they love us the less because 
they have power now to love us more? If we 
forget them not, shall they not remember us with 
God? No trial then can isolate us, no sorrow 
can cut us off from the Communion of Saints. 
Kneel down, and you are with them ; lift up your 
eyes and the heavenly world, high above all per- 
turbation, hangs serenely overhead; only a thin 
veil, it may be, floats between. All whom we 
loved, and all who loved us, whom we still love 
no less while they love us yet more, are ever near, 
because ever in His presence in whom we live 
and dwell. — h. e. manning. 



Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. — Gala- 
tians 6:7. 

THAT which you are doing, be it good or 
evil, that which you are doing to-day and 
every day, each thought, each action, each event, 
is contributing to form the character by which you 
are to be judged. If there be any unchangeable 
fate in the universe this is that fate, that the future 
shall ever bring forth the fruits of the past. If I 
have one wish above all other wishes for you it is 
that you may sow in such manner that your har- 
vest days may bring peace to your heart. 

A Little Parable. 

I made the cross myself whose weight 

Was later laid on me. 
This thought is torture as I toil 

Up life's steep Calvary. 

To think mine own hands drove the nails ! 

I sang a merry song, 
And chose the heaviest wood I had 

To build it firm and strong. 

If I had guessed — if I had dreamed 
Its weight was meant for me — 

I should have made a lighter cross 
To bear up Calvary ! 

ANNE REEVE ALDRICH. 
[25] 



3Jamrati? 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay dotvn his 
life for his friends. — S. John 4: 13. 

I SEE, I see, those nail-pierced hands ! 
. Which bleeding held my Lord 
On Calvary's cross, 'mid hostile bands, 

While sin's atonement poured. 
Those blessed, lifted, glorious hands, 

Opened for our supply — 
All Heaven descends at their commands; 
Salvation draweth nigh. 

I see, I see, those mighty hands — 

Deliverance and defence ! 
My troubled heart in comfort stands, 

While fears are driven hence. 
Upholding, bleeding, hiding hands ! 

Such wealth of grace they bring, 
Weak faith grows strong, and joy expands, 

And Glory wakes to sing. 

I see, I see, those cross-scarred hands ! 

They're graven with my name — 
With every name, from out all lands, — 

At Mercy's throne they flame. 
Those pierced, crimson, loaded hands ! 

Oh ! let them touch our hearts, 
While Christ, the Lord, in pity stands, 

And dying love imparts. 

JOHN JAY McCABE. 

[26] 



%anuaxv 

Ye servants of the Lord. — Psalm 136 : 1. 

ALL cannot be commanders-in-chief, for some 
must fill up the ranks; but in neither case 
need one fear to put forth his best effort. His- 
tory deals principally with great names, but the 
pulse of a nation is not always felt alone at its head. 
Unity of action tends to a centralization of power; 
for men are ever striving harder to rise in the 
scale of humanity. The longing for their ideal 
has taught them to build their theories upon solid 
foundations, and not upon the shifting sands which 
the waves of the great ocean of doubt wash to and 
fro. A low ideal has always been degenerating 
in its influence, while, on the other hand, a lofty 
aim is always promotive of the best results, for it 
tends to things above and not to things below. 
There has never been a great man who has not 
striven to mount the ladder to its topmost round, 
for it is only from such heights that he can look 
over the heads of the vast throng below him, and 
note^the restless tide as it surges in its wild fury. 

Be what thou seemest; live thy creed; 
Hold up to earth the torch divine; 
Be what thou prayest to be made, 
Let the great Master's steps be thine. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 



[27] 



%\anuaty 

t£fcoent^ngt)tti sr>a^ 

When thou pray est, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret. — S. Mat- 
thew 6 : 6. 

" OOLITUDE is a harbor where the damages 
v3 incurred on society's open sea may be re- 
paired." The modest character, the pure life, 
would be completely crushed, did it not have these 
seasons of strengthening. As sleep rests the 
wearied limbs and rebuilds the worn-out system, 
so retirement invigorates the intellect overtaxed 
by society's demands, "soothes the fretted dispo- 
sition and the hurt feelings." In seclusion the 
mind finds peace, finds also greatness. 

" If the chosen soul could never be alone 
In deep mid-silence, open-doored to God, 
No greatness ever had been dreamed or done. 
Among dull hearts a prophet never grew; 
The nurse of full-grown souls is solitude." 

It is an excellent plan to have some place to go 
to be quiet when things vex or grieve us. There 
are a good many hard times in this life of ours, 
but we can always bear them if we ask help in the 
right way. — miss alcott. 

He that lacks time to mourn, lacks time to mend; 

Eternity mends that. 'Tis an ill cure 

For life's worst ills, to have no time to feel them. 

HENRY TAYLOR. 

[28] 



3|anuary 

Draw them zvith bands of love. — Hosea 11:4. 

If we love one another, God dzvelleth in us. — 1 John 4:12. 

YOU will find as you look back upon your life 
that the moments that stand out, the moments 
when you have really lived, are the moments when 
you have done things in the spirit of love. As 
memory scans the past, above and beyond all the 
transitory pleasures of life, there leap forward 
those supreme hours when you have been enabled 
to do unnoticed kindnesses to those round about 
you, things too trifling to speak about, but which 
you feel have entered into your eternal life. I 
have seen almost all the beautiful things God has 
made; I have enjoyed almost every pleasure that 
He has planned for man; and yet, as I look back, 
I see standing out above all the life that has gone 
four or five short experiences when the love of 
God reflected itself in some poor imitation, some 
small act of love of mine, and these seem to be 
the things which alone, of all one's life, abide. 
Everything else in all our lives is transitory. 
Every other good is visionary. — Phillips brooks. 

She doeth little kindnesses 

Which most leave undone or despise; 
For nought which sets one heart at ease, 
And giveth happiness and peace, 

Is low esteemed in her eyes. 

LOWELL. 

[29] 



A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. — 
Proverbs 1 8 : 24. 

MAN is the artificer of his own happiness. 
Let him beware how he complains of the 
disposition of circumstances, for it his own dis- 
position he blames. If this is sour, or that rough, 
or the other steep, let him think if it be not his 
work. If his looks curdle all hearts, let him not 
complain of a sour reception; if he hobble in his 
gait, let him not grumble at the roughness of the 
way; if he is weak in the knees, let him not call 
the hill steep. This was the pith of the inscrip- 
tion on the wall of the Swedish inn, "You will find 
at Trochate excellent bread, meat, and wine; 
provided you bring them with you." — thoreau. 

As a stove parts with its heat to bring all sur- 
rounding objects into its own heated condition, 
so we affect those surrounding us. Not more cer- 
tainly does a rose diffuse its fragrance than human 
beings dispense their influence wherever they go. 
... Is a man religious? Not more truly does 
the sunshine impart its glory to surrounding ob- 
jects than that man's religious influence passes 
from him to all persons and things within its 
sphere. Houses become so imbued with the influ- 
ence of the people 1 that live in them that sensitive 
persons can feel that influence as soon as they 
enter. — william denton. 
[30] 



Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love. 
— Romans 12: 10. 

IN our memories there is more storing up than 
we can tell. And God is so wonderful, that 
what is nothing as a sight, or an event, may prove 
very precious as a recollection. — wm. mountford. 

Alas ! I did not say it, 

The little, kindly word; 
I let some care delay it 

From ears that might have heard. 

. And last night in the silence, 
And last night in the gloom, 
Death went before and entered 
That sorrow-haunted room. 

This morn I stand with fingers 
Upon the battered gate — 

wee, white, frightened faces — 
O babes all desolate ! 

1 might have borne God's message 

In humble phrase of prayer, 
I might have given water 
To lips that perished there. 

But, clay upon the pillow; 

My footsteps are too late, 
And now — I stand with fingers 

Upon the battered gate. 

MARY M. BOWEN. 

[31] 






tfthtuavy 
9 

Wi)t feeconO apontl) 

jfirst 2Da? 

He chasteneth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of 
His holiness. — Hebrews 12 : 10. 

OWHAT will that joy be, where the soul, being 
perfectly prepared for joy, and joy prepared 
by Christ for the soul, it shall be our business 
eternally to rejoice ! Then shalt thou be suffi- 
ciently convinced that thy Redeemer was saving 
thee, as well when He crossed thy desires as when 
He granted them, — when He broke thy heart as 
when He bound it up. Thou poor soul, who 
prayest for joy, complainest for want of joy, 
longest for joy, thou shalt then have full joy, as 
much as thou canst hold, and more than ever thou 
hast thought on, or thy heart desired. 

Then shall a new, a spirit-childhood come, 
A fresher sense of life in thee have room ! 
A life that knows no pain, no death, no tomb ! 
There sight shall know what faith hath first be- 
lieved, 
There perfect trust thy heart hath not conceived, 
There sad'ning thoughts be gone, thy mind here 

grieved ! 
Then for the work, my soul, that waits thee there, 
A firm, bold heart within thee daily bear, 
Undimmed by painful thoughts, unbowed by care. 
[32] * 



iff ebruar^ 

I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. — Isaiah 
13:16. 

ONE of the most blessed promises in the Bible 
is this : " And I will bring the blind by a way 
that they knew not; and will lead them in paths 
that they have not known; I will make darkness 
light before them, and crooked things straight." 
Surely this is something we can personally appro- 
priate without question. For we are verily blind. 
We know nothing that is before us; our eyes are 
of no use whatever in foretelling either good or 
ill; and, being blind, it is impossible for us to 
know which is the best path for us to take in life. 
In our perplexity God says : I will take you safely 
through these ways that are dark and unknown to 
you; in these paths that are so doubtful, that lie 
along really dangerous places, I will lead you. 
So may we take the infinite comfort of the promise 
to our hearts. Blind though we are, and rough 
the road over which we walk, our Guide knows 
the path perfectly, and is not only able to take us 
over it safely, but also to give us great comfort and 
good cheer on the way. 

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, 
Nor ever murmur or repine, 
Content, whatever lot I see, 
Since 'tis my God that leadeth me. 

j. GILMORE. 

Happy he who is willing to be led. 
[33] 



fithtmty 

Rejoice evermore. — I Thessalonians 5:16. 



I 



T is impious in a good man to be sad. 

SHAKSPEARE. 



Let us wipe our tears, lift up our heads, and 
give ourselves to brave and cheerful toil. In due 
time the release will come; rest so sweet after the 
toil is over; glory so bright after the darkness is 
passed; victory so grand, that we shall not wish 
the conflicts to have been less fierce, or the perils 
of the day less numerous or painful. 

A heart rejoicing in God delights in all His 
will, and is most surely provided with the most 
firm joy in all estates; for if nothing can come to 
pass beside or against His will, then cannot that 
soul be vexed which delights in Him and hath 
no will but His, but follows Him in all times, in 
all estates; not only when He shines bright on 
them, but when they are clouded. That flower 
which follows the sun doth so even in dark and 
cloudy days: when it doth not shine forth, yet it 
follows the hidden course and motion of it. So 
the soul that moves after God keeps that course 
when He hides His face; is content, yea, even 
glad at His will in all estates or conditions or 
events. — r. leighton. 



[34] 



fizhmavy 

JFourtt) HDap 

Comfort the feeble-7iiinded, support the weak, be patient towards 
all men. — I Thessalonians 5:14. 

THY love shall chant itself its own beatitudes, 
after its own life working. A child-kiss set 
on thy sighing lips shall make thee glad; a poor 
man, served by thee, shall make thee rich; a rich 
man, helped by thee, shall make thee strong; thou 
shalt be served thyself by every sense of service 
which thou renderest. — mrs. browning. 

Doing good is the only certainly happy action 
of a man's life. — sir philip Sidney. 

A beneficent person is like a fountain watering 
the earth, and spreading fertility; it is, therefore, 
more delightful and more honorable to give than 
to receive. — epicurus. 

There do remain dispersed in the soil of human 
nature seeds of goodness, of benignity, of ingenu- 
ity which, being cherished, excited, and quickened 
by good culture, do, by common experience, thrust 
out flowers very lovely, and yield fruits very 
pleasant, of virtue and goodness. — barrow. 

To feel much for others and little for our- 
selves; to restrain our selfish, and to indulge our 
benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of 
human nature. — adam smith. 

[35] 



fizbmavy! 

jTtftJ) E>ai? 

The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 
— I John I : 7. 

IN one of our national industries there is a daily 
miracle wrought. From the foul herding places 
of the outcast, the thief, and the murderer, is 
brought their infected, cast-off clothing, to feed 
the hungry jaws of the paper-mills. The reeking 
mass is torn asunder, submitted to chemical proc- 
esses, and when the mighty cylinders cease turn- 
ing, behold! "The beggar's rags are transformed 
into a fair, white carpet, whereon royal Thought 
may tread; " a stainless scroll where poets trace 
their dreams; where psalms of praise glow like 
clustered stars, and the name of God is inscribed. 

There is a greater miracle. There are minds 
perverted from all sweet influences, souls dwarfed 
with greed, hearts seared with crime, lives tainted 
with every passion. But in each the divine spark 
still glows, unquenchable, deathless. 

One pulse from the God-heart thrilling through 
the hand we extend, one echo from the Eternal 
Voice, in our whispered "brother," and sin, stain, 
and hurt may drop away forever, from that shining 
crystal, a purified soul. — mr£ john jay McCabe. 

Say not 'twas all in vain, 
The anguish and the darkness and the strife; 
Love thrown upon the waters comes back again 
In quenchless yearnings for a nobler life. 

ANNA SHIPTON. 

[36] 



fcbruar? 

Speak not evil one of another. — S. James 4 : 2. 

HE alone, whose hand is bounding 
Human power and human will, 
Looking through each soul's surrounding, 
Knows its good or ill. 

For thyself, while wrong and sorrow 
Make to thee their strong appeal, 

Coward vvert thou not to utter 
What the heart must feel. 

Earnest words must needs be spoken 
When the warm heart bleeds or burns, 

With its scorn of wrong, or pity 
For the wronged, by turns. 

But, by all thy nature's weakness, 
Hidden faults and follies known, 

Be thou, in rebuking evil, 
Conscious of thine own. 

Not the less shall stern-eyed duty 

To thy lips her trumpet set, 
But with harsher blasts shall mingle 

Wailings of regret. 

WHITTIER. 

There is nothing that calls us to so sharp a halt 
in the habit of criticism or fault-finding as taking 
one look into our own hearts, and beholding there 
all our own weakness and inconsistency. 

[37] 



fitbwavy 

g>etierttl) 2Da^ 

And in every work that he began in the service of the house 
of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek 
his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered. — 2 
Chronicles 21 : 31. 

WHEN one's whole life becomes dominated 
by one fixed purpose, round which all other 
purposes revolve, every day — if it be a worthy one 
— witnesses the advancement to a higher plane of 
feeling and of thought. When Turner, the great 
artist, was asked where he gained his perfect com- 
mand of nerve and muscle, he replied, "It cost 
me my life." So the habit of close thought, the 
charm of perfect diction, the power of soul beauty, 
or mastery of unworthy purposes, must be paid 
for with strong effort, even with life, if need 
must. 

" Heaven is not gained by a single bound, 
But we build the ladder by which we rise, 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And we mount to its summit round by round." 

The law of growth is from the inner to the out- 
ward, and our souls expand with the expanding 
thought. The informed nature is like the mock- 
ing-bird in its native woods, echoing a thousand 
varying voices, but the voice it hears most often, 
and whose voice is sweetest to its sense, is the one 
to which after a while its own notes will be at- 
tuned. — MRS. JOHN JAY McCABE. 

[38] 



Every marts work shall be made manifest. — I Corinthians 
3=I3- 

DO your own work. Ask no favors of any one, 
and you will succeed better than one who is 
always beseeching some one's patronage. No 
one will help you as you will help yourself, be- 
cause no one will be as heartily interested in your 
affairs. The first step will not be such a long one 
perhaps; but, carving your way up the mountain, 
you make each step lead to another, and stand 
firm in that while you chop another out. Men 
who made fortunes are not those who had five 
thousand dollars given them to start with, but 
started fair with a well-earned dollar or two. Men 
who by their exertions acquired fame have not been 
thrust into popularity by puffs paid for or given 
in friendly spirit. They have outstretched their 
hands, and reached the public heart. Say bravely 
"I will," and some day you will conquer. Never 
let any man say, "I have dragged you up." Too 
many friends hurt a man more than none at all. 

GREENWOOD. 

Through efforts long in vain, prophetic need 

Begets the deed : 
Nerve then thy soul with direst need to cope. 

Life's brightest hope 
Lies latent in Fate's deadliest lair — 

Never despair ! 

[39] 



fzhmavy 

We walk by faith, not by sight. — 2 Corinthians 5 : 7. 

" T T 7ALKING by faith " not only brightens our 
V V hope for the world to come, but it sheds 
a glow over the temporal life. In proportion as we 
are seeking to do the will of our Father, in that 
same proportion we have the divine approval. 
And through this knowledge our unseen life is 
irradiated with heavenly love and courage, and we 
look to the days that are coming as bringing fuller 
gifts and rit ''blessings. 

In the braver, better Sometime, life will broaden 

and expand; 
Every impulse will be noble, every purpose will 

be grand; 
Speech shall put on loftier meanings, thought to 

higher planes ascend, 
And the action prove the motive, and the motive 

show the end. 

O my comrade in the struggle, O my comrade in 

the strife ! 
Keep thy courage and thy patience, fill thy station; 

live thy life; 
Twine thy hopes about the Sometime, trust it 

ever, hold it fast, 
Though it tarry, wait thou for it; it will surely 

come at last. 

REV. ANSON G. CHESTER. 
[4o] 



fltbmavy 

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. — I Thessa- 
lonians 5 : 21. 

THERE come times when it is most blissful to 
be alone, for it means a quiet time to think 
over your life, and whether what you are doing is 
right or wrong. It means deciding with your- 
self, as judge and jury, whether the words that you 
have spoken have been the right ones at the right 
times. It means the deciding that which is good 
to be done, and the planning it c ,0 entirely 
that you are urged on by an inward spirit of grace 
to do the deed which seems just. It does not 
mean the wasting of time in idle thoughts, though 
it may mean closing your eyes and having some 
day-dream of future happiness. This making 
good dreams realities is a possibility, but we can't 
have the dreams unless we have the little time 
alone when we can think out how the heart can 
beat for the right, how the brain can work well 
for its realization. — ruth ashmore. 

He liveth long who liveth well ! 

All other life is short and vain ; 
He liveth longest who can tell 

Of living most for heavenly gain. 

Fill up each hour with what will last, 
Buy up the moments as they go; 

The life above, when this is past, 
Is the ripe fruit of life below. 

BONAR. 

[41] 






i 



My times are in his hand. — Psalm 31 : 15. 

The Eternal Goodness. 

KNOW not what the future hath 
Of marvel or surprise, 
Assured alone that life and death 
His mercy underlies. 

And if my heart and flesh are weak 

To bear an untried pain, 
The bruised reed He will not break, 

But strengthen and sustain. 

No offering of my own I have, 

Nor works my faith to prove, 
I can but give the gifts He gave, 

And plead His love for love. 

And so beside the Silent Sea 

I wait the muffled oar; 
N o harm from Him can come to me, 

On ocean or on shore. 

I know not where His islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air; 
I only know I cannot drift 

Beyond His love and care. T ™ TT ,„ 

J WHITTIER. 

If you believe in God, do not vex yourself with 
trying to look into the future. There is one 
thought which ought to steady every man's heart. 
It is that God is perfectly wise and perfectly 
good. Let us accept God and rest in Him. 
[42] 



fthvuavv 

Be ye also patient. — S. James 5 : 8. 

THERE are a thousand things whose attain- 
ment cannot be hastened, but for which we 
have to patiently wait, some to be realized on earth, 
and more and better ones not to be enjoyed in 
their perfection until the dawn of heaven, for which 
indeed our whole earthly life is but the waiting- 
time. The bright and lofty ideals we here pursue, 
but never find, there, " if we both hope and quietly 
wait," will be more than realized. The faculties, 
of whose infinite power we sometimes feel such 
strange and mysterious intimations within us, but 
which are hampered and weighed down by mate- 
rial hindrances, there, if we but wisely wait, will 
burst forth in all the beauty and glory of a sancti- 
fied and perfected humanity. Mere little seed- 
germs now, we wait to be planted by the rivers of 
life to the healing of the nations. — anon. 

Old Year and New Year — 
It is all God's year; 
His time for sowing, 

His time for reaping, 
His time for growing, 

For rest and quiet sleeping. 
New Year and Old Year, 

Their hoping, regretting, 
Will all turn to God's year, 

With no time for fretting. 
[43] 



tfebruaty 

tEtiirtmttt) 21>a? 

The ivildemess and solitary place shall be glad for them, and 
the desert shall blossom as a rose. — Isaiah 35 : 1 . 

BLESSED be the man that really loves flowers ! 
loves them for their own sakes, for their 
beauty, their associations, the joy they have given, 
and always will give; so that he would sit down 
among them as friends and companions, if there 
was not another creature on earth to admire or 
praise them ! But such men need no blessing of 
mine. They are blessed of God! Did He not 
make the world for such men? Are they not 
clearly the owners of the world and the richest of 
all men ? — beecher. 

A man ought to carry himself in the world as 
an orange tree would if it could walk up and down 
in the garden, — swinging perfume from every 
little censer it holds up to the air. — beecher. 

Thou canst not see grass grow, how sharp soe'er 
thou be, 

Yet that the grass is grown thou very soon canst 
see; 

So, though thou canst not see thy work now pros- 
pering, know 

The print of every work, time without fail shall 

show. 

ruckert. 

Measure a man's divinity by the ways his flowers 
love him. 

[44] 



February 

iFourtemti) HDap 

For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. — Philippians 
I : 21. 

Living for Jesus. 

LIVING for Jesus! my heart's whole devotion 
Henceforth I offer, dear Saviour, to Thee; 
Love, like the tide of an infinite ocean, 

Swells in my heart, overflowing and free; 
Deep unto deep in my spirit is calling, 

Song after song do I joyfully sing, 
He who redeemed me from earthly enthralling — 
He is my Saviour, my Master, my King. 

Strengthen me, Father! Oh, make my heart 
tender, 
Help me to gather the lost ones who roam, 
Help me to show them their Guide and Defender, 
Jesus, their Saviour, who bids them come home; 
Help me to gather the sad and forsaken, 

Teaching their voices new praises to sing, 
Striving their hearts and their souls to awaken, 
Witnessing ever for Jesus, my King! 

Teach me to plead with the wayward who wander, 

Help me to lead them from mazes of woe, 
Giving the lonely some sweet word to ponder, 

Cheering some soul on its way here below; 
Saviour, my faith and my purposes strengthen, 

Sheaves to the harvest of souls let me bring, 
And while the days of eternity lengthen 

Still let me witness for Jesus, my King. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 

[45] 



jftftemtt) sr>a£ 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 

Psalm 119: 105. 

Walk while ye have the light. — S. John 12 : 35. 

I WANTED to see the miners on their way to 
their homes with their lamps in their hats. I 
saw them, and brought home with me a lamp as 
a souvenir. I think it would be wise if we would 
select a truth and carry it always with us, as the 
miners do their lamps. How would "Love one 
another" do for the family? How would "Do 
unto others as you would they should do unto you " 
do in our life-work? 

Ah, the light makes manifest! The miners 
need their lamps down in the darkness of the 
mines, and we are in a world of darkness, and we 
need lamps. There is a very striking passage in 
the Psalms that says : " Thy word is a lamp unto my 
feet, and a light unto my path." I am glad it 
says feet; that looks like light for duty, not curi- 
osity. " It is with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness." There is always light enough to 
show us what to do, and the heart has to do with 
doing. There is always light for honest souls. 

MARGARET BOTTOME. 

Thus grave these lessons on thy soul — 

Hope, Faith, and Love — and thou shalt find 

Strength when life's surges rudest roll, 
Light when thou else wert blind. 

FROM THE GERMAN OF SCHILLER. 
[46] 



flzbmaty 

gwteentJj sr>a^ 

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence. Thou 
shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion fro??i the strife of 
tongues. * — Psalm 3 1 : 20. 

JUST at the outset of our work, to try us whether 
we are good for our work, God's spirit takes 
us into some solitude, some experience, which 
whether it be enacted afar off from busy life, or 
in the very centre of a crowded street, makes us 
realize that our deepest life is alone and no other 
man's. And in the hush of this holy quiet, we 
see also that our deepest life is hid in Him. 

So often, in the world's most crowded streets, 

But often, in the din of strife, 

There rises an unspeakable desire 

After knowledge of our buried life, 

A longing to inquire 

Into the mystery of this heart which beats 

So wild, so deep in us, — to know 

Whence our thoughts come and where they go. 

MATTHEW ARNOLD. 



Since Thou hast called us children and brought 
us into the secret of Thy presence, we will trust 
in Thy leadings. Whatever we may be called upon 
to do, may we do it with an eye single to Thy 
glory, swayed not by the clamor of tongues, but 
by the desire for Thy approval. 
[47] 



fithtuaty 

£>efomtemtt) 2Dap 

Bear ye one another 's burdens. — Galatians 8 : 2. 

I EXPECT to pass through this world but once. 
Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or 
any kindness that I can show to any fellow human 
being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or 
neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. 

UNKNOWN. 

Let thy alms go before, and keep heaven's gate 
Open for thee, or both may come too late. 

HERBERT. 

The charities that soothe and heal and bless 
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers. 

WORDSWORTH. 

Do what thou dost as if the stake were heaven, 
And that thy last deed ere the judgment day. 

UNKNOWN. 

Rest not! life is sweeping by; 
Do and dare before you die. 

GOETHE. 

A helping word to one in trouble is often like a 
switch on a railroad track — but one inch between 
wreck and smooth-rolling prosperity. — beecher. 

Not with the hope of gaining aught, 

Nor seeking a reward, 
But as Thyself hast loved me, 

O ever-loving Lord ! 

UNKNOWN. 
[48] 



tfzhmaty 

€i$)tttnti) 2Da^ 

Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also 
in me. — S. John 14: i. 

THERE is no journey of life but has its cloudy 
days; and there are some days in which 
our eyes are so blinded with tears that we find it 
hard to see our way or even read God's promises. 
Those days that have a bright sunrise followed by 
sudden thunder-claps and bursts of unlooked-for 
sorrows are the ones that test certain of our graces 
the most severely. Yet the law of spiritual eye- 
sight very closely resembles the law of physical 
optics. When we come suddenly out of the day- 
light into a room even moderately darkened, we 
can discern nothing; but the pupil of our eye 
gradually enlarges until unseen objects become 
visible. Even so the pupil of the eye of faith has 
the blessed faculty of enlarging in dark hours of 
bereavement, so that we discover that our loving 
Father's hand is holding the cup of trial, and by 
and by the gloom becomes luminous with glory. 

The fourteenth chapter of John never falls with 
such music upon our ears as when we catch its 
sweet strains amid the pauses of some terrific 
storm. "Let not your hearts be troubled: ye be- 
lieve in God, believe also in Me. ... I will 
not leave you comfortless." — cuyler. 

All earth's discord, grating, 
Will melt at last to love divine, complete. 

MARY CLEMMER AMES. 
[49] 



0mttmty 2Dap 

To be spiritually minded is life. — Romans 8 : 6. 

Like unto a New Life to You. 

AS soon as you really say "My Father! My 
Saviour ! " all life will be changed to you, — 
your interior and outward life. You will feel you 
are rich no matter what your outward circum- 
stances are. You have a Father; your Father is 
King; you are His child, — not His perfect child, 
but you have a perfect Father, and Christ will be 
to you your elder brother, your friend, and the only 
friend that can save you from the love of sin; the 
only friend that can make known to you more and 
more the love of God. You will then know life, 
not mere existence. A friend I once told you 
about, used to tell of the three F's, — Facts, Faith, 
Feeling ! We can only feel He is our Father by 
faith; and faith is believing a fact. It is a fact 
that God is our Father, who sent His Son to be 
the Saviour of the world; and by believing this fact 
we feel happy, we feel rich, and we come to know 
God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. And 
thus we feel the immortal tides of eternal life in 

US. MARGARET BOTTOME. 



Man is not God, but hath God's end to serve, 

A Master to obey, a course to take, 
Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become. 

BROWNING. 

[50] 



The Lord preserveth the faithful. — Psalm 31 : 23. 

Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 

ruler over many things. — S. Matthew 25 : 23. 

I HAVE noticed that wherever there has been a 
faithful following of the Lord in a conse- 
crated soul, several things have followed, inevitably, 
sooner or later. Meekness and quietness of spirit 
become in time the characteristics of the daily 
life. A submissive acceptance of the will of God 
as it comes in the hourly events of each day; 
pliability in the hands of God to do or suffer all 
the good pleasure of His will; sweetness under 
provocation; calmness in the midst of turmoil and 
bustle; yieldingness to the wishes of others, and 
an insensibility to slights and affronts; absence of 
worry or anxiety; deliverance from care or fear, — 
all these, and many similar graces, are invariably 
to be the natural outward development of that 
inward life which is hid with Christ in God. 

H. W. S. 

To His own the Saviour giveth 

Daily strength, 
To each faithful soul that liveth, 

Peace at length; 
Therefore whatsoe'er betideth, 

Night or day, 
Know His love for thee provideth 

Good alway. 
[51] 



tfebruati? 

Ye people, pour out your heart before him : God is a refuge 
for us. — Psalm 62 : 8. 

WHATSOEVER it is that presses thee, go tell 
thy Father; put over the matter into His 
hand, and so thou shalt be freed from that divid- 
ing, perplexing care that the world is full of. 
When thou art either to do or to suffer anything, 
when thou art about any purpose or business, go 
tell God of it, and acquaint Him with it; yea, 
burden Him with it, and thou hast done for the 
matter of caring. — r. leighton. 

Thou Refuge of my soul, 

On Thee, when sorrows rise, 
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll, 

My fainting hope relies. 
To Thee I tell my grief, 

For Thou alone canst heal. 
Thy word can bring a sweet relief 

For every pain I feel. 

But, oh, when doubts prevail, 

I fear to call Thee mine; 
The springs of comfort seem to fail, 

And all my hopes decline. 
Yet, Lord, where shall I flee? 

Thou art my only trust; 
And still my soul would cleave to Thee 

Though prostrate in the dust. 

ANNA STEELE. 
[52] 



Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not. - 
S. Matthew 19 : 14. 

IT lies around us like a cloud, — 
A world we do not see; 
Yet the sweet closing of an eye 
May bring us there to be. 

Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, 
Sweet helping hands are stirred, 

And palpitates the veil between 
With breathings almost heard. 

The silence — awful, sweet, and calm — 
They have no power to break; 

For mortal words are not for them 
To utter or partake. 

So thin, so soft, so sweet they glide, 
So near to press they seem — 

They seem to lull us to our rest, 
And melt into our dream. 

Sweet souls around us ! watch us still, 

Press nearer to our side, 
Into our thoughts, into our prayers, 

With gentle helpings glide. 

Let death between us be as naught, 
A dried and vanished stream; 

Your joy be the reality, 

Our suffering life the dream. 

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 
[53] 



fizbvuaty 

®toent£=tl)irD 2Dap 

As water spilt upcui the ground. — 2 Samuel 14: 14. 

CAN you put the spider's web back in its 
place, that once has been swept away? 
Can you put the apple again on the bough, which 

fell at your feet to-day? 
Can you put the lily-cup back on its stem, and 

cause it to live and grow? 
Can you mend the butterfly's broken wing, that 

you crushed with a hasty blow? 
Can you put the bloom again on the grape, or the 

grape again on the vine? 
Can you put the dewdrops back on the flowers, and 

make them sparkle and shine? 
Can you put the petals back on the rose? If you 

could, would it smell as sweet? 
Can you put the flour again in the husk, and show 

me the ripened wheat? 
Can you put the kernel back in the nut, or the egg 

in its dainty shell ? 
Can you put the honey back in its comb, and cover 

with wax each cell ? 
Can you put the perfume back in its vase, when 

once it has sped away? 
Can you put the corn-silk back on the corn, or the 

down on the catkins — say ? 
You think that my questions are trifling, dear? Let 

me ask you another one : 
Can a hasty word ever be unsaid, or a deed unkind, 

undone? kate Lawrence. 

[54] 



tfebruar? 

®tocnt?;fouitt) SDa? 

He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. — Zecha- 
riah 1 1 : 8. 

" T J^^ to °^ our infirmities." We love to 

JL X clasp this truth to our hearts that all the 

weak, fainting, falling ones of earth may know that 

their Saviour sympathizes with all their struggles. 

If I could only surely know 

That all these things that tire me so 

Were noticed by my Lord ! 
The pang that cuts me like a knife, 
The noise, the weariness, the strife — 

What peace it would afford ! 

It seems to me, if sure of this, 

Blent with each ill would come such bliss 

That I might covet pain, 
And deem whatever brought to me 
The loving thought of Deity, 
And sense of Christ's sweet sympathy, 

Not loss, but richest gain. 

Dear Lord, my heart shall no more doubt 
That Thou dost compass me about 

With sympathy divine; 
The love for me once crucified 
Is not the love to leave my side, 
But waiteth ever to divide 

Each smallest care of mine. 

SELECTED. 
[55] 



®torotiJ=fifrt) Dap 

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. 
Psalm 27 : 4. 

SINGLENESS of aim is one great secret of 
success. We cannot do better than by setting 
before our souls some "one thing" for which we 
mean to live. The Psalmist says : " One thing have 
I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after." 
Christ said to Martha of Bethany : " One thing is 
needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part 
which shall not be taken away from her." And 
the Apostle Paul says, "This one thing I do." It 
is profitable to direct our thoughts to these three 
things, the "one thing desirable " ; the "one thing 
needful"; the "one thing to be done." 

"One thing," said David, "is my heart's desire: 
I wish to dwell forever with my God ; 

Within His holy temple to inquire, 

And see His beauty in His own abode." 

"One thing is needful," said the faithful Lord 
To her who served Him with too bustling care; 

" To listen to My voice, receive My word 
Into thy heart, and entertain Me there." 

"One thing," said Paul, "I do, and only one: 
Forgetting things behind, I keep mine eyes 

Fixed on the goal, till all my race be run, 
And still press on, that I may win the prize." 

E. CAMPBELL FINLAYSON. 

[56] 



tfzbtmty 

I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things 
straight. — Isaiah 13 : 16. 

ABOVE the battle of inquiry and falsehood is 
clearly heard the prayer from the burdened 
heart of young Schiller, " What am I without truth, 
without her leadership through life's labyrinths? 
A wanderer in the wilderness, overtaken by night, 
with no friendly hand to lead me, no guiding star 
to show me the way. Doubt, uncertainty, scepti- 
cism ! But Truth, thou leadest us safely through 
life, bearest the torch before us in the dark vale 
of death, and bringest us home to heaven where 
thou wast born. O my God, keep my heart in 
peace in that holy rest during which Truth loves 
best to visit us." — unknown. 

When man in error gropes 
Night under night still opes : 
Goodness is horror then, 
And demons dwell in men. 
But when "he thinks aright, 
A fount of dazzling light 
From evil's darkness bursts 
To satiate his thirsts. 

ORIENTAL POETRY. 

This is the thought all fears to soothe, 

"Crooked made straight and rough made smooth." 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[57] 



fizbxmty 

Lord, increase our faith. — S. Luke 17:5. 

I HEAR men praying everywhere for more faith; 
but when I listen to them carefully and get at 
the real heart of their prayers, very often it is not 
more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change 
from faith to sight. Faith says not, " I see that it 
is good for me, and so God must have sent it," but 
"God sent it, and so it must be good for me." 
Faith walking in the dark with God only prays 
Him to clasp its hand more closely, does not even 
ask Him for the lifting of the darkness so that 
the man may find the way himself. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

So runs the law, the law of recompense, 

That binds our life on earth and heaven in one; 

Faith cannot live where all is sight and sense, 
But faith can live and sing when these are gone. 

We grieve and murmur, for we can but see 
The single thread that flies in silence by; 

When if we only saw the things to be, 

Our lips would breathe a song and not a sigh. 

Wait then, my soul, and edge the darkening cloud 
With the bright gold that Hope can always lend; 

And if to-day thou art with sorrow bowed, 
Wait till to-morrow and thy grief shall end. 

HENRY BURTON. 
[58] 



Be at peace. — Job 22 : 21. 

BLESSED is that man who can retire from the 
world to be alone with himself and God. 
The reserved nature is often the fullest and rich- 
est in its endowments, and is always, perhaps, the 
one most directly in communion with unseen 
things. The spirit of such a man becomes, while 
yet on earth, the peaceful throne of the Divine 
Being. Gentle, quiet, and reverent, it constrains 
all who approach it to escape from the toils of 
earthly life and enter into the calm and serenity 
of the spiritual atmosphere. It is a silent witness 
for truth and purity; it leads men invisibly to a 
higher plane of action, and draws heaven and earth 
closer together by the strength of its own high pur- 
pose. The deeper one goes into such a nature as 
this, the richer is the treasure that he finds. 

There are some hearts like wells, green-mossed 
and deep 

As ever Summer saw; 
And cool their water is, yea, cool and sweet; 

But you must come to draw. 

CAROLINE S. SPENCER. 

Thought is deeper than all speech, 
Feeling deeper than all thought; 

Souls to souls can never teach 
What unto themselves was taught. 

CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH. 
[59] 



februarv 

Whether . . . life or death or things present or things to come, 
all are yours. — I Corinthians 3 : 22. 

PATHOS comes into our lives from the con- 
sciousness that life still passes, and that all 
of its associations, however tender, must at last be 
broken. Many have left us, many more will go, 
and sometime, we know not when, we also must go 
out to come not back again. How that fact has 
broken in startlingly upon our thoughts sometimes, 
and we have looked in each other's faces with the 
question, Which of us shall go and leave the other 
behind? . . . We cannot be wholly glad while 
this certainty of separation remains; a shadow 
must fall upon our souls so long as this question 
rises in our eyes when we look into each other's 
faces. It ought not to destroy our happiness nor 
cast a gloom over our lives, but it must give us 
moments of tender and serious thoughtfulness. 

J. T. McFARLAND. 

Alas for him who never sees 
The stars shine through his cypress trees; 
Who hopeless lays his dead away, 
Nor looks to see the breaking day 
x^cross the mournful marbles play; 
Who hath not learned in hours of faith 
That truth to flesh and sense unknown, 
That life is ever lord of death, 
And love can never lose its own. 

WHITTIER. 

f6o] 




t m a n y 

. . merry days 



ifirst 2Dap 

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. — Colossians 3: 15. 

^JjOD is a tranquil Being, and abides in a tran- 
^^J quil eternity. So must thy spirit become 
a tranquil and clear little pool, wherein the serene 
life of God can be mirrored. Therefore shun all 
that is disquieting and distracting, both within and 
without. 

Nothing in the whole world is worth the loss of 
thy peace ; even the faults which thou hast com- 
mitted should only humble, but not disquiet thee. 

G. TERSTEGEN. 

Drop thy still dews of quietness 

Till all our strivings cease ; 
Take from our souls the strain and stress, 
And let our ordered lives confess 

The beauty of Thy peace. 

WHITTIER. 

With deeper voice than any speech 
Of mortal lips from man to man, 

What earth's unwisdom may not teach 
The spirit only can. 

WHITTIER. 

[61] 



g>econD 3Pa^ 

The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which 
are not seen are eternal. — 2 Corinthians 4:18. 

WE wonder what they talk of in that other 
world, and if they keep their interest in 
things which were so dear to them and to us while 
we were yet together. Do they who shared our 
lives, our hopes and sorrows, and strivings, do they 
know it all now? Or has it passed away from them 
forever as being of the " things temporal " ? 

It is not given us to know these things, but we 
do know that we may look forward to our common 
interests in " the things which are not seen but are 
eternal," and that we will be " satisfied." 

We know not when, we know not where, 
We know not what that world will be, 
But this we know : it will be fair 
To see. 

With heart athirst and thirsty face 

We know and know not what shall be : — - 
Christ Jesus bring us of His grace 
To see. 

Christ Jesus bring us of His grace 

Beyond all prayers our hopes can pray, 
One day to see Him face to face, — 
One day. 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 

[62] 



Wt)ixb 2Da£ 

Epar not, but let your hands be strong. — Zechariah 8:13. 

IT is not enough for a man to build a ship so that 
it looks beautiful as it stands on the stocks. 
What though a man build his vessel so trim and 
graceful that all admire it, if when she comes to be 
launched she is not fit for the sea, if she cannot 
stand stormy weather, if she is a slow sailer and a 
poor carrier, if she is liable to founder on the voy- 
age? A ship, however comely she may be, is not 
good for anything unless she can battle with the 
deep. That is the place to test her. All her fine 
lines and grace and beauty are of no account 
if she fails there. It makes no difference how 
splendidly you build so far as this world is con- 
cerned, your life is a failure unless you build so 
that you can go out into the great future on the 
eternal sea of life. We are to live on. We are 
not to live again, but we are to live without break. 
Death is not an end. It is a new impulse. 

BEECHER. 

When through the torn sail the wild tempest is 
streaming, 

When o'er the dark wave the red lightning is 
gleaming, 

Nor hope lends a ray, the poor seaman to cherish, 

We fly to our maker, — " Save, Lord, or we per- 
ish ! " REGINALD HEBER. 

[63] 



jfourtlj H>a^ 

The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He restoreth 
my soul ; he leadeth me in the paths 'of righteousness for his 
name's sake- — Psalm 23 : I, 3. 

THE Lord is my Shepherd, He leadeth my soul 
In pastures all pleasant and green, 
I rest in His shadow, I walk in His light, 

And food from His harvests I glean ; 
Beside the cool waters and rivers of peace 

Which sparkle with life as they flow, 
Refreshing my heart and reviving my strength 
He guides me, as onward I go. 

My soul He restoreth, when wandering astray, 

His patience unfailing abides, 
He heals me when broken, redeems when oppressed, 

And loves me the while that He chides ; 
My eyes may be holden from seeing His face — 

He leadeth me, leadeth me still, 
In paths of the righteous, by ways that He knows, 

Where nothing can work me an ill. 

The Lord is my Shepherd, a table He spreads 

In presence of those whom I fear, 
Anointing my head with a baptism sweet, 

As ever He draweth more near. 
His bounty provides for my every need, 

With plenty He blesses my board, 
Each day brings its manna, refreshing my strength, — 

Tis mine ere the gift is implored. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[64] 



jfifrt) SDa? 

If any man love God the same is known of him, — I Corin- 
thians 8 : 3. 

CHILD of my Love, lean hard ! 
And let Me feel the pressure of thy care ; 
I know thy burden, for I fashioned it ; 
Poised it in My own Hand, and made its weight 
Precisely that which I saw best for thee, 
And when I placed it on thy shrinking form 
I said, " I shall be near, and while thou leanest 
On Me, this burden shall be Mine not thine." 
So shall I keep within My circling arms, 
The child of My own Love ; here lay it down 
Nor fear to weary Him who made, upholds, 
And guides the universe. Yet closer come ; 
Thou art not near enough. Thy care, thyself 
Lay both on Me, that I may feel my child 
Reposing on my heart. Thou lovest me 
I doubt it not ; then loving Me, lean hard. 

Let the fearful and timid one see that God is 
love — essentially and eternally — love to all and 
therefore to him ; and that God has done and 
suffered all that love could suggest for the well- 
being of His creatures. Alexander raleigh. 

Be what thou seemest ! live thy creed ! 
Hold up to earth the touch divine ; 
Be what thou prayest to be made, 
Let the great Master's steps be thine. 

BONAR. 

[65] 



g>tjtl) ar>ai? 

God is in heaven and thou tipon earth; therefore let thy 
words be few. — Ecclesiastes 5 : 2. 

POSSIBLY the highest point where human weak- 
ness manifests itself is in an effort at expres- 
sion. The human heart resembles the sea. One 
day it lies like a calm, untroubled lake ; soon to be 
lashed into fury, and then subside into moans and 
sobs, as though longing to give voice to its sorrow, 
or carry its mighty secret up to the surface, and 
bear it proudly to the shore. Words are the only 
vessels in which we can make our voyages on the 
sea of thought, and weak and frail they are, indeed. 
We struggle for recognition, for expression, for the 
power of utterance, but we struggle sometimes in 
vain. Not so with God. His forms of expression 
are too manifest for our understanding. It is almost 
impossible to open the eyes without beholding some 
expression of divinity. j. t. macfarland. 

The thoughts that in our hearts keep pace, 
Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng, 

And steep in innocence and grace 
The issue of each guarded tongue. 

T. H. GILL. 

If singing breath or echoing chord 
To every hidden pang were given, 

What endless melodies were poured, 
As sad as earth, as sweet as heaven ! 

HOLMES. 
[66] 



g>cbentt) ar>a? 

Love is the fulfilling of the law. — Romans 13 : 10. 

LOVE is lost by thoughtlessness, by incon- 
sideration, and by selfishness, more than by 
any other way. Do you want to lose your love ? 
It is like those old Venetian glasses, fine, slender, 
and delicate ; pour into one all the great wealth of 
your affection and the glass will hold it, but let one 
drop of the poison of self-will or indifference get 
there and the glass is shattered into a thousand 
pieces. 

Where are only stems and thorns 
Veiled in curled leaves, dead and brown, 
Gardens where we only see 
Where the roses used to be ! 

ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN. 

Say never ye loved once, 

God is too near above, the grave below, 

And all our moments go 

Too quickly past our souls for saying so. 

The mysteries of life and death avenge 

Affections light of range ; 

There comes no change to justify that change. 

MRS. BROWNING. 

Oh ! cast thou not 

Affection from thee ! In this bitter world, 
Hold to thy heart that only treasure fast ; 
Watch, guard it — suffer not a breath to dim 
The bright gem's purity. felicia hemans. 
[67] 



Grievous words stir up anger.- — Proverbs 15 : 1. 

Put out the Fire. 

WHEN our houses take fire, says Dr. Cuyler, 
the first impulse is to go after a bucket of 
water. But if temper takes fire, the first impulse 
is to throw on more fuel. 

Now the best bucket of water for a roused tem- 
per is resolute silence. If, whenever an irritating 
act were done, or an injury struck us, we should 
firmly seal our lips for even ten minutes, we would 
save ourselves many a quarrel, many a heartburn, 
many a mortification, many a disgrace to our 
religious profession. Speech is often explosive 
and shattering. Silence is cooling. It cools us 
off and cools other people. One of the calmest 
men I ever knew told me that he used to be 
violently passionate, but he broke his temper by 
resolutely bridling his tongue until his anger died 
away. 

Come, here is work — and a rank field — begin ! 

Put thou thine edge to the great weeds of sin ; 
So shalt thou find the use of life, and see 
Thy Lord at set of sun, 
Approach and say, " Well done ! " 

E. W. ELLSWORTH. 

Let your spirit dwell upon the sunny hilltops of 
serenity, where the shadows cast by ill-temper and 
evil spirits can never reach. 

[68 J 



jlimtl) U>wg 

Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great 
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
the race that is set before us. — Hebrews 12 : 1. 

WE are compassed about by a cloud of wit- 
nesses, whose hearts throb in sympathy 
with every effort and struggle, and who thrill with 
joy at every success. 

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 



" I am working alone and no one heeds ! " 

Who says so does not know 
There are clear eyes watching on every side, 

And wherever our feet may go, 
We are " compassed about with so great a crowd," 

That if we could only see, 
We never could think that our life is small, 

Or that we may unnoticed be ! 

We seem to suffer and bear alone 

Life's burden and all its care ; 
And the sighs and prayers of the heavy heart 

Vanish into the air ; 
But we do not suffer or work alone, 

And after a victory won, 
Who knows how happy the hosts may be 

Who whisper a soft " Well done ! " 

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM. 
[69] 



tEcml) Dap 

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. — Prov- 
erbs 22: I. 

A good name is better than precious ointment. — Ecclesiastes 
7:1. 

SUCH a name is better than "great riches." Its 
money value is wealth. Its character value is 
beyond estimate. He who has a large balance to 
his credit in the confidence, the affection and sym- 
pathies of his fellow-men, is far richer than one 
whose name is worth just so many dollars. In the 
one case, the money is the basis of confidence. 
In the other, the man. To get a fortune and keep 
a good name, is surely better than riches without a 
good name. 

But now and then there are cases where men 
preserve their integrity, and yet do not achieve 
financial success. Misfortune may pursue them, or 
they may lack business judgment \ fire or storm 
may keep a man's losses up with his gains, and he 
may die poor, even though bearing a good name. 
What have we to say of such an one? Why, just 
what Scripture says : " A good name is better than 
precious ointment." Riches are temporal, but 
character is eternal. earl cranston. 

His the name that's nearest heaven, 

Godward breathed in full heart's praise, 
Who most thorns has drawn, not driven ; 
Mirrored back most tears on face 
Of poor Humanity. 
[70] 



CElrtcml) 2Pa? 

Consider the lilies how they grow : they toil not, they spin 
not; arid yet I say unto yon, that Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these. — S. Luke 12 : 27. 

MY heart is weary for the lilies. Qh, 
That I might wander far beyond the snow 
And find the garden where the lilies grow ! 

Lilies, clean silver lilies to illume 
And glorify the dimness of my room, 
Lilies of light to penetrate the gloom. 

Not the bright roses of the shining day ; 
Roses are fittest when the hour is gay ; 
For holy-hearted lilies now I pray. 

Christ ! make Thine Easter lilies bloom again ! 
See, how Thy poor are crying out in pain, 
And all the land is full of snow and rain. 

Sharp is the wind, and cutting is the sleet, 

Cold and unclean we walk the street ; 

Cold and unclean — the mire about our feet. 

In vain we turn for hope toward Thy sky ; 

Clouds are so dense, and Heaven — alas — so high. 

No sun shines visible to human eye. 

Show us, O Thou who once removed our stain, 
We need not pray for purity in vain ! 
Christ ! bid Thy solemn lilies bloom again. 

BLANCHE NEVIN. 
[71] 



®toclftt) 2Da? 

He that loveth life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in 
this zuor Id shall keep it unto life eternal. — S. John 12 : 25. 

IF pain were banished from the earth life would 
become utterly unfruitful. Neither nations nor 
individuals make any history in peace. We are 
always trying to make life what it never can be — 
safe, constant, and equal. If we could succeed in 
this effort, this severe and measured existence 
would have little value ; for we are so made that 
sad meanings are the highest meanings — the only 
largely significant expressions of the eternal will as 
revealed in us. 

Pity and need 
Make all flesh kin. There is no caste in blood, 
Which runneth of one hue, nor caste in tears, 
Which trickle salt with all ; neither comes man 
To birth with title-mark stamped on the brow, 
Nor sacred thread on neck. Who doth right deeds 
Is twice-born, and who doeth ill deeds vile. 

EDWIN ARNOLD. 

Hear then this lesson ; hear and learn : 
He who would save his soul, I say, 

Must lose his soul ; must dare to turn 
And lift the fallen by the way ; 

Must make his soul worth saving by some deed 

That grows and grows, as grows a fruitful seed. 

JOAQUIN MILLER. 

[72] 



tERiiitcnul) SDaj? 

.Zfear _y<? one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ. — Galatians 6 : 2. 

IF you were toiling up a weary hill 
Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear, 
Straining each nerve untiringly, and still 

Stumbling and losing foothold here and there, 
And each one passing by would do so much 

As give one upward lift, and go his way, 
Would not the slight reiterated touch 

Of help and kindness lighten all the day ? 

If you were breasting a keen wind, which tossed 

And buffeted and chilled you as you strove, 
Till, baffled and bewildered quite, you lost 

The power to see the way, and aim and move, 
And one, if only for a moment's space, 

Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast, 
Would you not find it easier to face 

The storm again when the brief rest was past? 

There is no little and there is no much ; 

We weigh and measure and define in vain. 
A look, a word, or a responsive touch 

Can be the ministers of joy to pain ; 
A man can die of hunger walled in gold, 

A crumb may quicken hope to stronger breath, 
And every day we give or we withhold 

Some little thing which tells for life and death. 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

[73] 



ifourtemtl) SDa^ 

Trust in the Lord and do good. — Psalm 37 : 3. 

BUILD a little fence of trust 
Around to-day, 
Fill the space with loving work 

And therein stay ; 
Look not through the sheltering bars 

Upon to-morrow, 
God will help thee bear what comes, 
Of joy or sorrow. 

MARY F. BUTTS. 

When God is in the midst of a kingdom or a 
city, He makes it as firm as Mount Zion that can- 
not be removed. When He is in the midst of a 
soul, though calamities throng about it on all hands, 
yet there is a constant calm within, such a peace as 
the world can neither give nor take away. What is 
it but want of God in men's hearts that makes them 
shake like leaves at every blast of danger ? 

R. LEIGHTON. 

Why is sun more bright than rain? 

Why does night bring forth the day? 
Why do souls grow strong through pain ? 
Tis God's way. 

Him to trust though sunbeams fail, 

Him to love though loves decay, 
Him to see behind the veil, 
Be my way. 
[74] 



jFiftiemlj HDap 

But this I say, brethren, the time is short. — I Corinthians 
7:29. 

I SOMETIMES feel the thread of life is slender 
And soon with me the labor will be wrought, 
Then grows my heart to other hearts more tender, 
The time 
The time is short. 

Up, up, my soul, the long-spent time redeeming, 
Sow thou the seeds of better deed and thought : 
Light other lamps while yet thy light is beaming, 
The time 
The time is short. 

By all the lapses thou hast been forgiven, 

By all the lessons prayer to thee hath taught, 

To others teach the sympathetic heaven. 

The time 

The time is short. 

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. 

He whose days pass without imparting and receiv- 
ing is like the bellows of a smith : he breathes in- 
deed, but he does not live. hindu proverb. 

Thou fadest as a flower, O man ! 
Of food for musing here is store. 
O man, thou fallest as a leaf ! 
Pace thoughtfully earth's leaf-strewn floor. 
r. c. trench. 

[75] 



&ixtmxt\) S>a^ 

Serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind. — I Chron- 
icles 28 : 9. 

A'ot slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. — 
Romans 12:2. 

LET us bow our souls and say, " Behold the 
handmaid of the Lord ! " Let us lift up our 
hearts and ask, " Lord, what wouldst Thou have me 
do?" Then light from the opened heaven shall 
stream on our daily task, revealing the grains of 
gold, where yesterday all seemed dust ; a hand 
shall sustain us and our burden, so that, smiling at 
yesterday's fears, we shall say, " This is easy, this is 
light " ; every " lion in the way," as we come up to 
it, shall be chained, and leave open the gates of the 
Palace Beautiful ; and to us, even to us, feeble and 
fluctuating as we are, ministries shall be assigned, 
and through our hands blessings shall be conveyed 
in which the spirits of just men made perfect might 

delight. ELIZABETH CHARLES. 

Mine be the reverent, listening love 

That waits all day on Thee, 
With the service of a watchful heart 

Which no one else can see. 

A. L. WARING. 

Waste not thy being ; back to Him 
Who freely gave it, freely give ; 

Else is that being but a dream ; 

Tis but to be, and not to live, bonar. 
[76] 



%>cbcntctnt\) SDap 

Ask and it shall be given you. — S. Matthew 7 : 8. 

I ASKED for bread : God gave a stone instead. 
Yet while I pillowed there my head, 
The angels made a ladder of my dreams, 
Which upwards to celestial mountains led. 
And when I woke, beneath the morning's beams, 
Around my resting-place fresh manna lay ; 
And praising God, I went upon my way, 
For I was fed. 

I asked for strength ; for with the noontide heat 
I fainted, while the reapers, singing sweet, 
Went forward with ripe sheaves I could not bear. 
Then came the Master with His blood-stained feet, 
And lifted me with sympathetic care. 
Then on His arm I leaned till all was done ; 
And I stood with the rest at set of sun, 
My task complete. 

God answers prayer; sometimes, when hearts are 

weak, 
He gives the very gifts believers seek. 
But often faith must learn a deeper rest, 
And trust God's silence when He does not speak ; 
For He, whose name is love, will send the best. 
Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure ? 
But God is true, His promises are sure 
To those who seek. 

MYRA GOODWIN PLANZ. 
l77l 



StpatcU 

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life where- 
unto thou art also called. — I Timothy 6 : 12. 

EVEN were the immortality of the soul a fiction, 
I would be sorry not to believe it. I con- 
fess I am not so humble as the atheists. I do not 
follow their thoughts ; but for myself would not ' 
barter the idea of my immortality for the happiness 
of to-day, for I delight to deem myself immortal 
as God himself. montesquieu. 

Where our Captain bids us go 
Tis not ours to murmur "No." 

He that gives the sword and shield, 

Chooses too the battle-field 
Where we are to fight the foe. anonymous. 

Who art thou that complaineth of thy life of toil ? 
Complain not ! Look up, my wearied brother ; see 
thy fellow-workmen there, in God's eternity ; sur- 
viving there, they alone surviving ; sacred band of 
the immortals, celestial body-guard of the empire 
of mankind. To thee heaven, though severe, is 
not unkind ; heaven is kind, — as a noble mother ; 
as that Spartan mother, saying, while she gave her 
son his shield, "With it, my son, or upon it." Thou 
too shalt return home in honor ; doubt it not, — 
if in the battle thou keep thy shield ! 

Thou, in the Eternities and deepest death-king- 
doms art not an alien ; thou art everywhere a deni- 
zen. Complain not. carlyle. 
[78] 



$intttmt)) SPa? 

Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them 
that fear him. For he know eth our frame ; heremembereth 
that we are dust. — Psalm 103 : 13, 14. 

FATHER ! How much of strength and conso- 
lation centres in that word ! In this single 
view of God how much there is to bind us to Him 
with fervent and ever-growing love ! 

He knows the bitter, weary way, 
The needless striving by the way, 
The souls that weep, the souls that pray — 
He knows ! 

He knows how hard the fight hath been, 
The cloud that came our lives between, 
The wounds the world hath never seen, 
He knows ! 

He knows when faint and worn we sink, 
How deep the pain, how near the brink 
Of dark despair we pause and shrink ; 
He knows ! 

He knows : O heart take up thy cross, 
And know earth's treasures are but dross, 
And He will prove as gain our loss ! 
He knows ! 

MARIAN LONGFELLOW. 

The merciful compassion of our heavenly Father 
broods over us, as the blue sky bends over the earth. 
The great Father heart is everywhere. 
[79] 



®torattert) 2Dai? 

L thank my God, making mention of thee always in my 
prayers, hearing of thy love and faith. — Philippians 4:5. 
Walk worthy of the vocation zvherewith ye are called. — 
Ephesians 4:1. 

Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be 
magnified. — Psalm 50 : 16. 

LET us hold fast the threefold cord that cannot 
be broken, the friend wishing, the friend re- 
ceiving, and the mighty Friend loving to give as 
much as is needed. 

ANDREW MURRAY. 



"Love makes drudgery divine." Love cannot 
help itself, it outruns and leaves law far behind. 
The question is not what must I do, but what may 
I do? Love will stop at nothing. It takes up its 
cross and travels after its object over every hill and 
mountain of difficulty. Love desires all to partake 
of its bliss ; it runs on with unceasing cry " What 
shall I render for such benefits?" 

POWERSCOURT. 



Without or star or angel for their guide, 
Who worship God shall find Him. Humble love 
And not proud reason keeps the door of heaven. 
Love finds admission when proud science fails. 

YOUNG. 

[80] 



®tonxti?;first Da? 

Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. — Psalm 
11:4. 

GO forth to meet the solemnities and to conquer 
the trials of existence, believing in a Shep- 
herd of your souls. Then faith in Him will support 
you in duty, and duty firmly done will strengthen 
faith ; till at last your faith will raise the song of 
conquest, and in its retrospect of the life which has 
ended, and its forward glance upon the life to come, 
take up the poetic inspiration of the Hebrew King. 

STOPFORD A. BROOKE. 

Upon God's providence I lean, 

As lean in faith I must ; 
The lesson of my life hath been, 

A heart of grateful trust. 
No burden yet was on me laid 

Of trouble or of care, 
But He my trembling step hath stayed 

And given me strength to bear. 

I know not what beyond may lie, 

But look in humble faith, 
Into a larger life to die 

And find new birth in death. 
And so my onward course I fare 

With happy heart and calm, 
And mingle with my daily care 

The music of my psalm. 

FREDERICK L. HOSMER. 
[81] 



Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. — S. Matthew 
6:34. 

HE that hath many causes of joy, and so great, 
is very much in love with sorrow and peevish- 
ness, who loses all these pleasures, and chooses to sit 
down upon his little handful of thorns. 

JEREMY TAYLOR. 

We know not what the path may be 

As yet by us untrod ; 
But we can trust our all to Thee, 

Our Father and our God. 

WILLIAM J. IRONS. 

O my friend, look not out at what stands in 
the way ; what if it looks dreadful as a lion, is not 
the Lord stronger than the beasts of prey? But 
look in where the law of life is written, and the will 
of the Lord revealed, that thou mayest know what 
is the Lord's will concerning thee. 

I. PENNINGTON. 

Griefs Clearing Sky. 
Who knows whither the clouds have fled ? 

In the unscarred heaven they leave no wake; 
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed, 

The heart forgets its sorrow and ache. 

LOWELL. 
[82] 



t£toentE=tl)iri) SDai> 

Iji all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy 

paths. — Proverbs 3 : 6. 

He leadeth me. — Psalm 23 : 2. 

WE are like to Him with whom there is no 
past or future, with whom a day is as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, 
when we do our work in the great present, leaving 
both past and future to Him to whom they are 
ever present, and fearing nothing because He is 
our future as He is our past, as much as, and 
far more than we can feel Him to be in our pres? 
ent. Partakers thus of the divine nature, resting 
in that perfect All-in-All in whom our nature is 
eternal too, we walk without fear, full of hope and 
courage and strength to do His will, waiting to do 
the endless good which He is always giving as fast 
as He can get us able to take it in. 

GEORGE MACDONALD. 

"In pastures green ? " Not always ; sometimes He 
Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me 
In weary ways, where heavy shadows be. 

So, whether on the hilltops high and fair 
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where 

The shadows lie, what matter? He is there. 

HENRY A. BARRY. 

Keep to the present little inch that is before 
you, and accomplish that in the little moment that 
belongs to it. m. a. kelly. 

[83] 



®tent^fourtt) SDap 

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son 
whom he receiveth. — Hebrews 12: 6. 

HE took them from me, one by one, 
The things I set my heart upon ; 
They looked so harmless, fair and blest, 
Would they have hurt me ? God knows best ; 
He loves me so, He would not wrest 
Them from me if it were not best. 

I will not say I did not weep 
As doth a child that wants to keep 
The pleasant things in hurtful play 
His wiser parent takes away ; 
But in this comfort I will rest : 
He who hath taken knoweth best. 

F. H. MAER. 

Let Christ's love flow into our souls and fill them. 
Then struggles and sacrifices will lose their bitter- 
ness, even if they must keep some of their pain. 
God's work begun within is a pledge of His work 
finished. Until the day of the Lord Jesus, then 
let us look up, rejoice and hope and love. 

God chastens thee because He loves thee ! . . . 
He loved thee into sorrow, and He will love thee 
through it. Love is the reason of all He does. 

MACDUFF. 

God's love with keen flame purges like the light- 
ning flash. 

[8 4 ] 



Thou under stand est my thought afar off. — Psalm 139 : 2. 

WISELY the great Plato wrote, " Thinking is 
the soul talking with itself." The visible 
part of man dies and is forgotten, but his soul, his 
thought, is immortal. As thought is the breath of 
men's spirit, so it is the character of his thought 
which determines the character of his immortality. 
Whether the magnetism of his influence shall stimu- 
late other men to worthy and lofty purposes, or 
whether it shall leave upon succeeding generations 
such black stains of crime as no angel tears can 
wash away, shall be determined by the character 
and power of a thought. There are thoughts which 
are plague-spots, thoughts which are prophecies, 
thoughts which are convictions, thoughts which are 
pledges and prayers, thoughts which are wounds 
in the world's deep heart. Battle and bloodshed, 
cruelty and wrong, murder and oppression, have all 
sprung and grown from the first murderous thought 
of Cain. There are thoughts which are symbols. 
The Taj Mahal, stainless in its matchless beauty and 
purity, sprang, a white flower of sorrow, from the 
grave where were buried together the dead and the 
living heart, and so shall forever symbolize the love 
of the Indian King whose loyal soul clung to one 
woman living and mourned her dead. Thought is 
mysteriously transformed into beliefs ; into laws ; 
into creeds. Under every thought lies a feeling 
too deep for perfect expression. 
[85] 



In the night-time his song shall be with me. — Psalm 42 : 8. 
He shall give thee songs in the night. — Job 35 : 10. 

OH ! still those precious words remain, 
The strains of trust and love 
Which beat the air, like spirit-wings 

And lift the heart above. 
Those songs on which the saints of old 

Scaled heaven's loftiest height, 
And 'cross the blue horizon's rim 
Secured their crowns of light. 

I bind the memory of those songs 

Close to my reverent heart, 
They turn temptation's face away 

And bid my griefs depart ; 
They soothe me, soft as spirit-hands 

That fan the fainting soul, 
And all invisibly they lift 

My life to heaven's goal. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 

If there be memory in the world to come, 

If thought recur to some things silenced here, 
Then shall the deep heart be no longer dumb, 

But find expression in that happier sphere ; 
It shall not be denied the utmost sum 

Of love to speak without or fault or fear, 
But utter to the harp, with changes sweet, 

Words that, forbidden still, then heaven were 
incomplete. jean ingelow. 

[86] 



Zoz//? suffer eth long and is kind. — I Corinthians 13:4. 

THE love of Jesus reproduces itself in the lives 
of His working and suffering children. In 
some shape they are ever giving themselves to God 
and for their fellow-men. True love is no thin dis- 
embodied sentiment. Love asserts its presence in 
a practical, visible way, when once it really lives. 

CANON LIDDON. 



Let your friends have your sympathy and your 
help . . . and let simplicity, love, and humility be 
your great aim — just to do God's work without an 
atom of self-love in it. Keep this aim ever true 
and pure and all will come out right, even though 
many a weary step has to be trod in the footsteps 

Of JeSUS. H. MONSELL. 

Who saith, " I loved once "? 
Not angels, whose clear eyes love, foresee, 

Love through eternity, 
Who, by " to love," do apprehend " to be " ; 
Not God, called love, His noble crown-name, cast- 
ing 
A light too broad for blasting ! 
The great God, changing not from everlasting, 

Saith not, "I loved once." 

E. B. BROWNING. 

[87] 



Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that 
pass azvay. — Job 1 1 : 1 6. 

I LOOK around me and think how many there 
are in the same trouble as myself, perhaps 
much greater, and they have no Father to go to. 
I look behind me and think of all the way I have 
been led, and the mercy upon mercy which I have 
experienced. I look before and above me and 
think of my heaven at the door. Jesus my fore- 
runner there, my God there, where, through won- 
drous grace, I shall soon be myself. 

BISHOP BULL. 

My mind was full of troubles wild, 

And all my heart was filled with sorrow, 

When, by my side, a little child 

Pointed toward the sky and smiled, 

And said, " The sun will shine to-morrow." 

I looked, and all my pain had flown • 

Would He, who e'en takes thought of sparrows, 
Give me, instead of bread, a stone ? 
Or never heed my weary moan ? 

Or pierce my soul with many arrows ? 

O weary souls ! however black 

Your lives may be, this comfort borrow ; 
Look ever forward, look not back, 
But keep upon the homeward track, 

And look for sunshine on the morrow. 

EDITH HELENA COOKE. 
[88] 



/ will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my 
strength. — Psalm I : 21. 

AND now, O Lord, our God, we desire to be 
caught up out of the fever and turbulence of 
the times in which we dwell. We desire to find 
Thee a very present help in time of trouble. Lord, 
Thou hast promised to make Thyself a refuge. 
Thou art a mountain in a weary land. We remem- 
ber in days gone by, when we have gone up out of 
the city and troubled vale unto the tops of moun- 
tains, and found, while it was heated and full of 
summer burnings below, that there it was cool and 
transparent, that there no sound was heard, and 
everything dwelt in eternal calm and purity. Be 
pleased, O Lord, to grant, since Thou art lifted far 
above toil and heat and turbulence, that we may be 
able to find Thee, and to refresh ourselves in Thy 
presence. beecher. 

" Unto the Hills" 

O restless heart, so full of cares, 

Yet longing so for better things, 

Impatient even in thy prayers, 

And vexed at trifling happenings, 

Receive the strength that calms and stills, 

Lift up thine eyes "unto the hills." 

MARY THOMPSON. 

[89] 



Wt)ittitt\) 2Dap 

Whoso is wise, will ponder these things. — Psalm 107: 43. 



G 



OOD will, like a good name, is got by many 
actions and lost by one. Jeffrey. 



Every event of life points, if it does not carry us, 
on to the cross. Jonathan edwards. 

Show me the man you honor; I know by that 
symptom better than by any other, what kind of a 
man you are yourself; for you show me what your 
ideal of manhood is, and what kind of a man you 
long to be. carlyle. 

Make each day a critic on the last. pope. 

Be noble ; and the nobleness that lies 
In other hearts, sleeping, but never dead, 
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. 

LOWELL. 

Taking the first step with the good thought, the 
second with the good word, and the third with the 
good deed, I entered Paradise. zoroaster. 

In the midst of much failure have the heart to 
begin again. Fear not so long as you have Christ 
with you as your friend and defender. 

JOHN HALL. 

Seeing much, suffering much, and endeavoring 
much are the pillars of learning. d'israeli. 

[90] 



Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. — S. Luke 13: 3. 

OF all acts, is not, for man, repentance the 
most divine? The deadliest sin were the 
consciousness of no sin. The heart so conscious 
is divorced from sincerity, humility, and fact. 
Hence the experience of David is the truest em- 
blem of man's moral progress and warfare ever 
written. carlyle. 

Coming to Jesus is the desire of the heart after 
Him. It is to feel our sin and misery, and to believe 
that He is willing and able to pardon, comfort, 
and keep us ; to ask Him to help us, and to trust 
Him as in a friend. To have the same feelings and 
desires as if He were visibly present, and we came 
and implored Him to bless us, is to come to Him, 
though we do not see His face nor hear His voice. 
The penitent's desire for pardon, his prayer, "Lord, 
save me ; I perish" — this is coming to Him. 

NEWMAN HALL. 

A true repentance shuns the evil itself 

More than the external suffering or the shame. 

SHAKSPEARE. 

Pass me not, O God, my Father, 
Sinful though my heart may be ; 

Thou mightst leave me, but the rather 
Let Thy mercy rest on me, 
Even me. 

MRS. ELIZABETH CODNER. 
[91] 



apni 

9 

Wi)t jfourtti apontl) 
iftrst 2t>a? 

Z><?# / *%/ bread to the hungry. — Isaiah 58 : 7. 

IF there be a pleasure on earth which angels 
cannot enjoy, and which they might almost 
envy a man the possession of, it is the power 
of relieving distress ; if there be a pain which devils 
might pity a man for enduring, it is the death-bed 
reflection that we have possessed the power of 
doing good, but that we have abused and perverted 
it to purposes of ill. colton. 



In all the human gifts and passions, though they 
advance nature, yet they are subject to excess ; 
but charity alone admits no excess. For so we see, 
by aspiring to be like God in power, the angels 
transgressed and fell ; but by aspiring to be like 
God in goodness or love, neither man nor angel 
ever did or shall transgress. For unto the imita- 
tion we are called. bacon. 



Beneficence is a duty. He who frequently prac- 
tises it, and sees his benevolent intentions realized, 
at length comes really to love him to whom he has 
done good. kant. 

[92] 




iUavenj) cboice^f- ble55in6s PGjh on klyee ! 



Evening and morning and at noon, will I cry and pray 
aloud : and he shall hear my voice. — Psalm 15 : 17. 

MOST holy and eternal God, Lord and Sover- 
eign of all the creatures, I humbly present 
to Thy divine majesty myself, my soul and body, 
my thoughts and my words, my actions and inten- 
tions, my passions and my sufferings, to be dis- 
posed by Thee to Thy glory, to be blessed by Thy 
providence, to be guided by Thy counsel, to be 
sanctified by Thy Spirit, and afterwards that my 
soul and body may be received into glory : for 
nothing can perish which is under Thy custody; 
and the enemy of souls cannot devour what is Thy 
portion, nor take it out of Thy hand. This day, 
O Lord, and all the days of my life I dedicate to 
Thy honor, and the actions of my calling to the 
uses of grace, and the religion of all my days to be 
united to the merits and intercession of my holy 
Saviour Jesus, that in Him and for Him I may be 
pardoned and accepted. Amen. 

JEREMY TAYLOR. 

We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power. 
Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong, 
Or others — that we are not always strong, 
That we ever are overborne with care, 
That we should ever weak or heartless be, 
Anxious or troubled, when with us in prayer, 
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee? 

R. C. TRENCH. 

[93] 



Slprtl 



GTInro HDap 



Thy zvordis a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. — 
Psalm 119: 105. 

ON land and ocean men have rejoiced at the 
shining of a guiding star. The thankful mar- 
iner steers over the pathless sea by one steadfast 
star that befriends him out of the North. The 
caravan crawling by night across the trackless 
desert makes the tinkling of the camel bells fol- 
low the twinkling of the star that points the way. 
In years now forever happily gone, the bondman 
fleeing through the forests, wading swamps and 
swimming streams to elude the bloodhound's scent 
and escape the overseer's lash, hiding by day, and 
hurrying by night, rejoiced to see a kindly star that 
burned in the northern sky like a light in Liberty's 
window, signalling the way to friendly soil, man- 
hood, and the powerful shelter of the flag of our 
Union flying over the border. As surely in spiritual 
realms as on sea and land a guiding light shines 
from above. In the sky of every human soul is 
some starry revelation which, if followed, will lead 
to the manifold liberty with which Christ makes 
men free. 

When we cannot see our way, 
Let us trust and still obey ; 
He who bids us forward go, 
Cannot fail the way to show. 

[94] 



aprtl 



jpourtl) 2Dap 



Nozv faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen. — Hebrews n : I. 

AT present I only feel that there is a chamber 
whose name is Peace, and which opens 
toward the sun-rising. ... I know that the little 
film which covers the pupil of my eye is the 
only wall between her world and mine, but that 
hair-breadth is as effectual as the space between 
us and the sun. I cannot see her, I cannot feel 
when I come home that she comes to the door to 
welcome me as she always did. I can only hope 
that when I go through the last door that opens for 
all of us I may hear her coming step upon the 
other side. lowell. 

Be patient and be wise ! The eyes of Death 

Look on us with a smile : her soft caress 
That stills the anguish and that stops the breath, 

Is Nature's ordination, meant to bless 
Our mortal woes with peaceful nothingness. 

Be not afraid ! The Power, that made the light 
In your kind eyes, and set the stars on high, 

And gave us love, meant not that all should die 
Like a brief day-dream quenched in sudden night. 

Think that to die is but to fall asleep 
And wake refreshed when the new morning breaks, 

And golden day her rosy vigor takes 
From winds that fan Eternity's white height 

And the white crests of God's perpetual deep. 

[ 95 ] WILLIAM WINTER. 



&prtl 



jFtfttj H>a^ 

I flee unto thee to hide me. — Psalm 143 : 9. 

OUR life is hid with Christ in God. Our present 
life in Him may be compared to that of the 
seed, a hidden life contending underground, against 
cold and darkness and obstructions, yet bearing 
within its breast the indestructible germ of vitality. 
Death lifts the soul into sunshine for which a 
hidden, invisible work in the life of the flower has 
prepared it. 

Then bless thy sacred growth, nor catch 
At pain; but thrive unseen and dumb ; 

Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life and watch, 
Till the white-winged reapers come. 

HENRY VAUGHAN. 

I could not ask for you a greater gift than that in 
the future, when your autumn time of life shall 
come, you may have the spring-time in your heart. 
There is only one life where the new never becomes 
old, where the love is always kept fresh, and is 
always a first love with increasing freshness ; and 
that is having the One who says " I am the life ! " 

MARGARET BOTTOME. 

Whate'er events betide, 

Thy will they all perform ; 
Safe in Thy heart my head I hide, 

Nor fear the coming storm. 

H. F. LYTE. 

[96] 



Slprtl 



£>irtl) Da? 



In my Father 's house are many mansions : if it zvere not so 
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. — S. 
John 14: i. 

WHERE does it lie — that land of rest 
To which the over-wearied pass ? 
Where are the ways which they have pressed, 

Or the soft meadows green with grass, 
Through which they go into the shade 
Of the home-place the Lord has made ? 

So close the door shuts after them, 

Nor sight nor sound can reach us here ; 

Faintly we speak the requiem, 

And still it seems that they are near. 

We cannot tell ; we only know 

That Christ receives them where they go. 

But that is surely heaven enough ; 

Where Jesus is, their home shall be. 
The storms have ceased which once were rough, 

And gently, o'er a tranquil sea, 
ICnowing no care because He cared, 
They reached the home He has prepared. 

Love made it ready. Love is wise. 

Oh, happy they who, safe at home, 
Have had the tears wiped from their eyes, 

Assured that no more grief will come ; 
For Christ has borne away their cares, 
And He has answered all their prayers. 

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM. 

[97] 



g>efoentl) Das 



Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! — S. James 
3=5- 

SHE told a lie, a little lie — 
It was so small and white, 
She said, " It cannot help but die 

Before another night." 
And then she laughed to see it go, 
And thought it was as white as snow. 

But oh, the lie ! It larger grew, 

Nor paused by night or day, 
And many watched it as it flew, 

And if it made delay, 
Like something that was near to death, 
They blew it onward with their breath. 

And on its track the mildew fell, 
And there was grief and shame, 

And many a spotless lily-bell 
Was shrivelled as with flame. 

The wings that were so small and white 

Were large, and strong, and black as night. 

One day a woman stood aghast, 

And trembled in her place, 
For something flying far and fast 

Had smote her in the face — 
Something that cried in thunder-tone, 
I come ! I come ! Take back your own ! 

ELLEN M. H. GATES. 
[98] 



aptti 



€i%l)ti) SPa? 



S c 



In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening tvithhold not 
thy hand. — Ecclesiastes 1 1 : 6. 

A OW with a generous hand ; 
Pause not for toil or pain ; 
Weary not through the heat of summer ; 

Weary not through the cold spring rain ; 
But wait till the autumn comes 

For the sheaves of golden grain. 
Sow, and look onward, upward, 

Where the starry light appears — 
Where, in spite of the coward's doubting, 

Or your own heart's trembling fears, 
You shall reap in joy the harvest 

You have sown to-day in tears. 

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER. 

Once in a while I think of my little orange tree 
I had a few winters ago. It was very small, in a 
small pot, but it had so many oranges on it I won- 
dered whether they would grow or shrink up and 
fall from the tree. They didn't fall, and they 
didn't seem to grow, but they lived. ... I came 
to love my little orange tree. One day when I 
stood by admiring it, I fancied it said, " O, I am 
nothing now, but you should see me in my home 
in California, then you would see an orange tree." 
It never reached there. But ... we shall some 
day be where our environment will be perfectly 
suited to our nature and we shall come to our best. 

MARGARET BOTTOME. 

[99] 



Lo I am with you ahvay, even unto the end of the world. — 
S. Matthew 38 : 20. 

O CHARM to drive away the power of dark- 
ness, " The Father is with me ! " solace 
to the poor wounded spirit, "The Father is with 
me ! " O light for the desolate and broken heart, 
whatever is taken away, " The Father is with me ! " 
Have you grasped this precious revelation? You 
who live in happy homes ; you whose lives are easy 
and free from want ; you whose wishes are fulfilled, 
and upon whom life smiles brightly — have you 
taken to heart this truth, "My Father is with me "? 
Learn it now. Dwell on it now. Let it give a 
deeper meaning to your prosperous life, a deeper 
earnestness to your way of feeling and acting. 
"The Father is with me wherever I am." And 
then, when the storms begin to blow, and the great 
billows break upon you, and in the rush of salt 
waves you taste at last the bitterness of suffering, 
then you will know as a comfort which nothing can 
take from you : "The Father is with me." 

CANON WYNNE. 



My bark is wafted to the strand 

By breath divine ; 
And on the helm there rests a hand 

Other than mine. 

[100] 



j% ///«/ receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth 
the zvord, and under standeth it; which also beareth fruit, 
and bringeth forth, some an hundred fold, some sixty, sofjie 
thirty.— S. Matthew 13: 13. 

THOUGH to-day may not fulfil 
All thy hopes, have patience still. 

P. GERHARDT. 

He does not need to transplant us into a different 
field, but right where we are, with just the circum- 
stances that surround us, He makes His sun to shine 
and His dew to fall upon us, and transforms the very 
things that were before our greatest hindrances, into 
the chiefest and most blessed means of our growth. 
. . . No difficulties in your case can baffle Him. 
No dwarfing of your growth in years that are past, 
no apparent dryness of your inward springs of life, 
no crookedness or deformity in any of your past 
development, can in the least mar the perfect work 
that He will accomplish, if you will only put your- 
selves absolutely into His hands, and let Him have 
His own way with you. h. w. s. 

It is the spring ! prepare the seeds . 

And tender plants new bloom to show, 
Turn the rich earth, pull up the weeds, 

And clear each cumbered garden row. 
Waste not the wealth of April showers, 

For sunshine which our need befriends, 
Think ! on these evanescent hours 

The harvest of the year depends. 

[101] CAROLINE NORTON. 



aprtl 



The Lord shall guide thee continually. — Isaiah 63 : 2. 

THE light of God's wisdom can make a path 
for us even across the stormy sea of life. 
His guidance shows a track where we can pilot our 
little human craft safely. His love will bring us 
into port when the voyage is over. 

Light of life so sweetly streaming, 
Down upon life's troubled sea, 

With the love of Jesus beaming, 
Shine, shine on me. 

Light of life that knows no fading 
From all changes Thou art free ; 

Holy light that knows no shading 
Shine, shine on me. 

Light of life, in days of gladness 
To Thy radiance I would flee ; 

Be my strength in days of sadness, 
Shine, shine on me. bonar. 

May none of us founder before we reach the har- 
bor, but may every one of us have that pilot in the 
ship, that guidance, that living Christ, that we shall 
be sure, through calm and conflict, of reaching the 
land which He appoints ; and may it be Immanuel's 
land — that place of rest where no storms are, and 
where no tears wet the eye. beecher. 

[102] 



®toclfd) 2Pa? 

Be of good courage. — Numbers 13: 20. 

AT the bloody battle of Marengo the French 
lines fell back in a complete rout, and the 
officers rushed up to their commander, crying : 
"The battle is lost ! " "Yes," exclaimed the gen- 
eral, " one battle is lost, but there is time to win 
another." Inspired by his faith and courage, the 
officers hurried back, turned the head of the re- 
treating column, and when in a few hours the last 
gun was fired, the French camped on the field of 
battle. Marengo had been won. 

So if we are thinking of battles lost the past 
year, in school or in business, or, worse still, in 
character — lost temper, lost patience, lost spirit- 
uality or prayerfulness — let us remember that 
there is yet time to win another battle. Raise 
the standard once more, take fresh courage, put 
on the whole armor, and God will surely give us 
the victory. w. h. pope. 

If the day's brief pain and passing care 
Have seemed too much and too hard to bear ; 
If under its trivial press and smart 
Thou hast failed in temper and lost in heart ; 
If the undiscouraged, journeying sun, 
As it sinks to rest with its travail done, 
Leaves thee all spent with trouble and sorrow - 
How shalt thou face the harder to-morrow ? 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

[103] 



aprtl 



Ye cannot serve God and mammon. — S. Matthew 6 : 24. 

IT is the old choice which still is presented to 
every soul ; the old crisis which reappears in 
every experience. Caesar, or Christ, that is the ques- 
tion ; the vast, attractive, sceptical world, with its 
pleasures and ambitions, and its prodigal promise, 
or the meek, majestic, and winning figure of Him 
of Nazareth? 

The election remains for each of us ; and the 
moment of the election, in the shaded and solemn 
" Valley of Decision," will be memorable in our 
history, when suns for us have ceased to shine ! 

It is not the lower appetites in man which offer 
the sharpest or stubbornest resistance to the man- 
dates of Christ, though these have their place, and 
often a large one, in such opposition. 

The love of ease ; the indisposition to any pro- 
tracted and patient labor for an ideal cause ; the 
eager passion for secular success, the pride which 
insists on determining its own plan and path ; the 
weakened impression of things supernatural ; even 
the intellectual habit which finds miracles unscien- 
tific, and insists on applying its own measures to the 
whole career and office of the Lord — all these and 
other kindred forces now affect minds encompassed 
by the world, to encourage and confirm their reluc- 
tance toward Christ. 

[104] 



aprti 



ifourteentl) Da? 



Your Father knozveth what things ye have need of. — S. 
Matthew 6 : 8. 

BE content to be a child, and let thy Father 
proportion out daily to thee what light, what 
power, what exercises, what straits, what fears, what 
troubles Fie sees fit for thee. i. pennington. 

Song of the Seeds. 

'Tis so dark, so dark, here underground ! 

We reach and we struggle, we know not where ; 
We long for something we have not found, 

We seek and we find not, but cannot despair. 

It is warm and sweet here under the earth, 
And so peaceful too, — why can not we stay? 

What is this change that is named a birth ? 
And what is that wonderful thing called Day? 

But a power is on us, we may not wait j 
Within us we feel it struggle and thrill, 

While upward we reach to find our fate, 

And this ceaseless, mysterious want to fulfil. 

They say that at last we shall reach the Air — 
Will breathing be freedom, and Light be Life ? 

What mystic change shall we meet with there 
When the blossom shall crown this mute, strange 

life? FLORENCE SMITH. 

God goes before and ploughs, and we are but the 
seed dropped into His furrows. 

[i°5] 



9lpril 



tfifttmti) H>ap 



Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. — S. 
Matthew 12: 34. 

LET us beware of losing our enthusiasm. Let 
us ever glory in something ; and strive to 
retain our admiration for all that would ennoble, 
and our interest in all that would enrich and beau- 
tify our life. phillips brooks. 

Enthusiasm is more than anything else, a broad 
consciousness of real relations, and a joyous activ- 
ity therein. The fuller one's appreciation of his 
proper relation to God's enterprises, and the more 
lively his efforts therein, the larger the life he 
lives. He beholds raying off from himself a thou- 
sand-fold chords of oneness with God's world and 
universe. He realizes that over every one he can 
send thrilling influences of power and good. Doing 
it, he lives joyously in the highest intents of his 
existence. He humbly discovers himself to be a 
fountain of beneficence, achieving possibilities of 
blessing earth and gladdening heaven. 

JOHN J. McCABE. 

Beautiful is young enthusiasm ; keep it to the 
end, and be more and more correct in fixing on 
the object of it. It is a terrible thing to be wrong 
in that — the source of all our miseries and confu- 
sions whatever. carlyle. 
[106] 



aprtt 

fyimmti) TOE 

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness, for they shall be filled. — S. Matthew 5 : 6. 

I WEARY, for the day is hard and long ; 
I have forgot my early morning song ; 
Footsore and faint, upon the ground I lie ; 
Out of the dust I only send a cry 
For Thee. 

I hunger, for my food is bitter bread, 

Mingled with falling tears that I have shed ; 

Out of the arms of death or ere I die, 

My soul lifts up her pleading cry 

For Thee. 

I thirst ; the cooling springs no more o'erflow, 
The summer drouth has touched their sources so ; 

My spirit fails beneath a fervid sky, 
Yet my hot lips still tremble with a cry 
For Thee. 

O Way of Life ! draw in my weary feet ! 

O Bread of Life ! of thee I fain would eat ! 
O Living Water ! fill my chalice high ! 

O Blessed Christ ! now hear my suppliant cry 
For Thee. mary a. ripley. 

The mountains lift their crests so high, that weary 
clouds, which have no rest in the sky, love to come 
to them, and, wrapping about their tops, distil their 
moisture upon them. Thus mountains hold com- 
merce with God's invisible ocean, and, like good 
men, draw supplies from the unseen. 

[107] BEECHER. 



s&fbmteentl) arm? 



april 



A man that hath friends must shoiv himself friendly. — 

Proverbs 33 : 24. 

A friend loveth at all times. — Proverbs 17: 17. 

IF we would build on a sure foundation in friend- 
ship, we must love our friends for their sakes 
rather than our own. charlotte bronte. 

Be careful to make friendship the child and not 
the father of virtue ; for many strongly knit minds 
are rather good friends than good men. 

PHILIP SIDNEY. 

The friendship of high and sanctified spirits loses 
nothing by death but its alloy : failings disappear, 
and the virtues of those whose " faces we shall 
behold no more " appear greater and more sacred 
when beheld through the shades of the sepulchre. 

ROBERT HALL. 

The greatest medicine is a true friend. 

SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 

A faithful friend is the true image of the Deity. 

NAPOLEON. 

How are holy friendships possible? In mutual 
devotedness to the good and true. A man, be the 
heavens ever praised, is sufficient for himself; yet 
were ten men, united in love, capable of being and 
of doing what ten thousand singly would fail in. 
Infinite is the help man can yield to man. 
[108] 



apta 



Ctgljtemtl) 2r>a? 



Whosoever is bom of God overcometh the world. — S. John 

4=5- 

Follozvers of them zvho through faith and patience inherit the 
promises. — Hebrews 6:12. 

THOSE who are now at rest were once like 
ourselves. They were once weak, faulty, sin- 
ful ; they had their burdens and hindrances, their 
slumbering and weariness, their failures and their 
falls. 

But now they have overcome. Their life was 
once homely and commonplace. Their day ran out 
as ours. Morning and noon and night came and 
went to them as to us. Their life, too, was as lonely 
and sad as yours. Little fretful circumstances and 
frequent disturbing changes wasted away their hours 
as yours. There is nothing in your life that was 
not in theirs ; there was nothing in theirs but may 
be also in yours. They have overcome, each one, 
and one by one ; each in his turn, when the day 
came, and God called him to trial. And so shall 
you likewise. h. e. manning. 

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod 
The whitest of the saints of God ! 
To show thee where their feet were set, 
The light which led them shineth yet. 

WHITTIER. 

When we comprehend the fulness of what death 
will do for us, in all our outlook and forelook, dying 
is triumphing. beecher. 

[109] 



Slprtl 



0mtm\t\) HOa^ 



To every thing there is a season. . . . He hath made every 
thing beatitiful in his time. — Ecclesiastes 3:1. 
For, to, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the 
flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds 
is come. . . . The fig tree putteth forth her green figs. — 
Song of Solomon 2: 11, 12, 13. 

NATURE becomes to the soul a perpetual 
letter from God, freshly written every day 
and each hour. 

The sun does not shine for a few trees and 
flowers, but for the wide world's joy. 

Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever 
made, and forgot to put a soul into. 

The superfluous blossoms on a fruit tree are 
meant to symbolize the large way in which God 
loves to do pleasant things. 

As flowers never put on their best clothes for 
Sunday, but wear their spotless raiment and exhale 
their odor every day, so let your Christian life, free 
from stain, ever give forth the fragrance of the love 
of God. 

The lonely pine on the mountain-top waves its 
sombre boughs and cries: "Thou art my sun!" 
And the little meadow-violet lifts its cup of blue, 
and whispers with its perfumed breath, " Thou art 
my sun ! " And the grain in a thousand fields 
rustles in the wind and makes answer, " Thou art 
my sun ! " beecher. 

[HO] 



april 



®tomtietlj SDay 



Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there? — 
Jeremiah 9 : 22. 

Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
life; and I will raise him tip at the last day. — S. John 6: 54. 

THERE are necessities in our hearts which 
nothing human can supply ; passions which 
nothing human can either satisfy or control ; powers 
which nothing human can either adequately excite 
or occupy ; and oh, there are sorrows, deep sor- 
rows, which will not be assuaged ; wounds which, 
if the balm in Gilead cannot heal, must fester for- 
evermore ; sins, far beyond the reach of all skill 
but that of the Great Physician of souls. 

R. J. BRECKINRIDGE, D.D. 

We shall not be critics then, pedants then, little 
technical inquirers then. We shall feel that the 
cross, and that alone, can go right into our life, 
with the answer to our difficulties, and the balm 
for our wound and sorrow. Joseph parker. 

Just as I am, — poor, wretched, blind ; 
Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
Yea, all I need, in Thee I find, — 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

Just as I am, — Thou wilt receive ; 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve ; 
Because Thy promise, I believe, — 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 
[in] 



aptfi 



For my name's sake will I defer mine anger. . . . For 
ntine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it. — 
Isaiah 48: 9-1 1. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on 
thee; because he trusteth in thee. — Isaiah 26 : 3. 

IT requires a great amount of courage to conquer 
self. " He that ruleth his own spirit is greater 
than he that taketh a city ; " and though the name 
of the one that conquers himself may not be em- 
blazoned and immortalized as that of the general 
who captures a city, yet it may be noticed by a 
child who may be led in the same way to conquer. 

" For my name's sake will I defer 

Mine anger," said the King. 
For His name's sake, for His own sake, 

Still unfaltering 
In His kindly patience, He 

Doth silent wait as then, 
Doth silent wait, and silent watch, 

This Lord and King of men. 

" For my name's sake, for mine own sake : " 
Oh, wise and subtle speech, 
That leadeth us, that showeth us, 

The height that we might reach ; 
That height of heights, where Love enthroned, 

Reins sov'reign of the soul, 
And guides the impulse and the will 
With sure and sweet control. 
[112] 



£pril 



Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught tip 
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; 
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort 
one another with these words. — I Thessalonians 17: 18. 

WHEN our last summons shall come to us, 
may it not be the surprise of sorrow, but 
rather of joy, and may we hear in the voice of 
death the call of God, " Come up hither." And 
when we reach home and Christ may we find there 
awaiting us, safe and glorified, those whom we have 
loved and lost — those who have been called from 
our side to await us in the clouds. 

The heart which, like a staff, was one 
For mine to lean and rest upon, 
The strongest on the longest day 
With steadfast love, is caught away — 
And yet my days go on, go on. 

Whatever's lost, it first was won ; 
We will not struggle nor impugn. 
Perhaps the cup was broken here 
That heaven's new wine might show more clear. 
I praise Thee while my days go on. 

I praise Thee while my days go on ; 
I love Thee while my days go on ! 
Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, 
With emptied arms and treasure lost, 
I thank Thee while my days go on. 

MRS. BROWNING. 
[US] 



Gttoent^tlnrti E>ap 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. — S. John 3 : 16. 

LOVE strong as death — nay, stronger, 
Love mightier than the grave, 
Broad as the earth, and longer 

Than ocean's wildest wave ; 
This is the love that sought us, 
This is the love that bought us, 
This is the love that brought us 

To gladdest day from saddest night, 

From deepest shame to glory bright, 

From depths of death to life's fair height ; 
This is the love that leadeth 

Us to His table here, 

This the love that spreadeth 

For us the royal cheer. 



When temptation sore is rife, 
When we faint amidst the strife, 
Thou, whose death hath been our life, 
Save us, Holy Jesu. 

So, with hope in Thee made fast, 
When death's bitterness is past 
We may see Thy face at last : 

Save us, Holy Jesu. 

LITANY OF THE PASSION. 
[114] 



3£toeM£=fourtt) 2Dap 

Ye have not passed this way heretofore. — Joshua 3 : 4. 

DO not draw back from any way because you 
never have passed there before. The truth, 
the task, the joy, the suffering on whose border you 
are standing, oh, my friend, to-day go into it with- 
out a fear : only go into it with God who has been 
always with you. phillips brooks. 

And thither thou, beloved, and thither I 
May set our heart, and set our face, and go 
Faint, yet pursuing home on tireless feet. 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 

Heaven the country, Christ the way. 

We know the way : thank God who hath shown us 

the way ! 
Jesus Christ our way to beautiful Paradise, 
Jesus Christ the Same forever, the Same to-day. 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 

Through love to light ! Oh, wonderful the way 
That leads from darkness to the perfect day ! 
From darkness and from sorrow of the night 
To morning that comes singing o'er the sea. 
Through love to light ! Through light, O God, to 

Thee 
Who art the love of love, the eternal light of light. 

RICHARD WATSON GILDER. 
["5l 



®toentp ; fiftl) sr>ag 



For the goodness of God endureth continually . — Psalm 52:1. 
For his merciful kindness is great toward us : and the truth 
of the Lord endureth forever. — Psalm 117: 2. 

IN the petty round of duties 
When the strength and patience fail, 
In the heat and stress of battle 

When the bravest spirits quail, 
In the hour of self- surrender, 

Dwell not on the painful strife, 
But remember God who loves thee 
Planned thy lot and place in life. 

Every battle with thy self-hood, 

Every failure overcome, 
Every harshness unresented 

While the lips keep bravely dumb, 
Brings us nearer to God's promise 

And His pardoning gift of love, 
lifts the soul from earthly shadows 

To the perfect life above. 

Lean far out into the future, — 

It will teach thee how to wait ; 
Look alone to God's sweet mercy, 

With no thought of chance or fate ; 
And beyond earth's transient echoes, 

Leading, spirit-like, before, 
Hear the promise still repeated, 

" It endures forevermore ! " 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[116] 



{Etoent^sijrtf) ar>ai? 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
trouble. — Psalm 46 : I . 

THERE is need in adversity to cling fast to 
God's hand. The Scripture precepts are full 
of point and meaning as to the perils of merely 
human success. But great and dreadful is the peril 
of those about whom a fierce and relentless army 
of human reverses has encamped, who see the 
failure of one human hope after another, with only 
winter and night as the emblems of their life. How 
precious to all in such sorrow is the sun of God's 
love, that is always shining, the blessings always 
ready to spring up in the heart worn with the cares 
of earth, when that heart turns to receive the in- 
fluences of heaven. 

Ah ! feeble, deftless hands of time, 

That are not apt their tasks to do ! 
Ah ! dim, weak eyes that ought to shine, 

Dull thought that cannot thought pursue ! 
Yet some wise hand controls my hand, 
And light gleams till I understand. 
And through the days, whate'er betide, 

I feel a mystery of aid 
Within me, and on every side, 

So that I need not be dismayed. 
Where'er I go, a Helper there 

Receives me into tender care. 

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM. 
[117] 



We walk by faith, not by sight. — 2 Corinthians 5 : 7. 

NOT by mere moods, not by how I feel to-day, 
or how I felt yesterday, may I know whether 
I am indeed living the life of God, but only by 
knowing that God is using me to help others. No 
mood is so bright that it can do without that 
warrant. No mood so dark that, having that war- 
rant, it need despair. phillips brooks. 

We cannot kindle when we will 
The fire which in the heart resides, 

The spirit bloweth and is still, 
In sympathy our soul abides : 

But tasks in hours of insight willed 

Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled. 

With aching hands and bleeding feet 
We dig and heap, lay stone by stone ; 

We bear the burden and the heat 

Of the long day and wish 'twere done. 

Not till the hours of light return 

All we have built do we discern. 

MATTHEW ARNOLD. 

Follow the teachings of God's providence blindly 
if He so wills it, but looking back at the end of 
life we shall see that it was the only possible way for 
us to reach our best development. 

[118] 



Slprtl 

Great is 'thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. — S. 
Matthew 15: 28. 

FAITH is the king's knowledge of his own 
kingdom. A weak man who has no faith in 
Christ is a king who does not know his own royalty. 
But the soul which in its need cries out and claims 
its need's dominion ..." Come to me, O Christ, 
for I need Thee," finds itself justified. Its bold 
and humble cry is honoured and answered instantly. 
The answer comes, " Great is thy faith : be it unto 
thee as thou wilt." "What wilt thou that I should 
do unto thee?" 



Faith adds new charms to earthly bliss, 
And saves me from its snares ; 

Its aid, in every duty, brings 
And softens all my cares. 

Wide it unveils celestial worlds 
Where deathless pleasures reign ; 

And bids me seek my portion there, 
Nor bids me seek in vain. 

There, there unshaken would I rest, 

Till this frail body dies ; 
And then on faith's triumphant wings, 

To endless glory rise. 

TURNER. 

[119] 



april 

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth co??ieth knowl- 
edge and understanding. — Proverbs 2 : 6. 

BIBLE study teaches how to grapple with spir- 
itual problems before those questions become 
so profound as to defy solution. What a safeguard 
is this from folly — what a protection from danger ! 
When temptations come it finds the soul so an- 
chored in the faith that it is not moved from its 
foundations of righteousness. Its convictions are 
clear and well-wrought out, for it has settled the 
solemn question of life once for all and is freed 
from doubt and unrest. Bible study develops 
latent powers. It brings into the life an object, 
into the heart a joy, into the future a hope. New 
desires and beliefs start into being. Then thoughts 
which had been but dimly outlined become visible, 
and thus the soul-education is begun. Divine 
meanings sometimes flash into view from the study 
of some single verse which has long seemed ob- 
scure, and then the spiritual perceptions start up 
into swift and beautiful creation. With magnetic 
force they grasp the complex meanings and the 
hidden strength. martha capps Oliver. 

What glory gilds the sacred page ! 

Majestic, like the sun, 
It gives a light to every age ; 
It gives, but borrows none. 

WILLIAM COWPEPv. 

[120] 



X&tyttitty 2Dap 

A still, small voice. — I Kings 19: 12. " 

HOW the sorrows and perplexities of life mul- 
tiply and darken around us in the midnight 
watches ! Then is the time when the soul should 
lean hard upon the Everlasting Arms, remembering 
that if we have wandered there is one strong to 
restore. If we have sinned there is one ready to 
forgive. 

Oh, the waiting in the watches of the night ! 

In the darkness, desolation, and contrition, and 

afright ; 
In the awful hush that holds us shut away from 

all delight ; 
The ever weary fancy that forever weary goes, 
Recounting ever over every aching loss it knows, 
The ever weary eyelids gasping ever for repose — 
In the dreary, weary watches of the night. 
Dark, stifling dark — the watches of the night. 
With tingling nerves at tension, how the blackness 

flashes white. 
With spectral visitations smitten past the inner sight ! 
What shuddering sense of wrongs we've wrought 

that may not be redressed. 
Of tears we did not brush away — of lips we left 

unpressed, 
And hands that we let fall, with all their loyalty 
unguessed ! 
Ah ! the empty, empty watches of the night ! 

[121] JAMES W. RILEY. 



9 

i?irsft sr>ap 

/ must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. — 
S. John 9 : 4. 

May Song. 

<* f*% EE, sipping sweets from the nodding white 
j£j clover, 

Lingering long where the honey-dew drips, 
Teach me a lesson, O busy brown rover, 
Tell me what theme I should keep on my lips. 
" Work," hums the bee, " be ceaselessly doing, 
Garner your stores in the bright morning hours ; 
Fair is the day, but the dim night pursuing 
Drops her dark mantle o'er close-folded flowers." 

Lily, my priestess, so white and so saintly, 
Lifting your face to the sun's golden glow, 
Preach me a sermon, oh, whisper it faintly, 
Can they live purely who live here below ? 

" Turn your face skyward ; base souls in depres- 
sion, 

Bend the gaze downward, where clods bound the 
view ; 

Nature makes ever her silent confession ; 

Growth seeks the light, pure souls seek the true." 

MRS. JOHN JAY McCABE. 
[122] 



$®ay 



gtfxonti 2Da^ 



The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the 
name of the Lord. — Job 1 : 21. 

DEATH is the swelling of the seed that is dried 
up, and that is waiting for its planting. 
Death is the bursting April that all winter long has 
lain close-bound within itself, waiting for its life of 
efflorescence. Death is entering on summer from 
the frigid zone. When you look on it in the light 
of this grander disclosure, this prophetic thought 
of the apostle, the wonder is that men want to live, 
that they do not hunger and thirst for dying. For 
death is coronation ; it is stepping from bond- 
age into liberty, from darkness into light, it is blos- 
soming ; it is going out of a prison-house into the 
glory of the Father's community. When the hero 
goes do not cover him with black, nor with any of 
the circumstances that related to him here. Chris- 
tianity after a few thousand years ought to have 
taught man, that the going out of life is for honour 
and glory and immortality. beecher. 

Oh, to be ready when death shall come ; 
Oh, to be ready to hasten home ; 

No earthward clinging, 

No lingering gaze, 

No sigh at parting, 

No sore amaze, 
But sweetly, gently to pass away, 
From the world's dim twilight into day. 

[123] 



$$ay 



®tnrt) HDap 



Yea, I will help thee. — Isaiah 16 : 10. 

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like- 
minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus. — > 
Romans 5:5. 



BE angel to some one to-day : 
Thou knowest not who it may be ; 
Some fallen one found by the way, 
That asketh assistance from thee. 

Mayhap at the Beautiful Gates, 

Where circumspect worshippers throng, 
A wandering beggar awaits 

To catch the sweet service of song. 

It may be that somebody's child, 

Aweary with wages of sin, 
Bedraggled with filth and defiled, 

Is anxious true life to begin. 

Then open thy heart and thy hand, 
The supplicant turn not away, 

But give what thou hast at command — 
Be angel to some one to-day. 

Thou knowest not but in that hour 
Thou checkest the sob or the tear, 

The Author of life-giving power, 
The Master Himself may appear. 



[124] 



^a? 



jfourtl) 2Dap 



But they shall sit every man under his vine and his fig 
tree. — Micah 4 : 4. 

THERE are abodes in all of our cities, poor, 
humble rooms ; yet the men who live in them 
would die rather than to surrender them. For each 
house is home to some of these men. Whenever 
he thinks of it he sees angels of God hovering 
around it. The ladders of heaven are let down to 
it. The children may come up after awhile, and 
win high position, but not until their dying day 
will they forget that humble roof, under which 
their father rested and their mother sang. Oh, if 
you would gather up all the tender memories, all 
the lights and shades of the heart, and had only 
four letters to spell out their magnitude and eter- 
nity of meaning, you would, with streaming eyes 
and trembling hand, write it out in these four living 
capitals, " HOME." talmage. 

Our Mothers. 
Hundreds of stars in the lovely sky, 

Hundreds of shells on the shore together, 
Hundreds of birds that go singing by, 
Hundreds of birds in the sunny weather. 

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn, 
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover, 

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn, 

But only one mother, the wide world over. 

THE ADVANCE. 

05] 



iftftt) a>ap 

They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great good- 
ness. — Psalm 1 65 : 7. 

HE will revere those times, and in our memo- 
ries preserve and still keep fresh, like flowers 
in water, those happier days. richter. 

Memory seizes the passing moment, fixes it upon 
the canvas, and hangs the picture on the walls of 
the inner chamber of the soul, for her to look upon 
when she will. haven. 

There are recollections as pleasant as they are 
sacred and eternal. There are words and faces 
and places that never lose their hold upon the 
heart. There may be words that we seldom hear 
amid the whirl of life ; faces that we may never see 
on earth again ; but they had a controlling influence 
over us, and they can never be wholly forgotten. 
The flight of years cannot sully their innocence, 
nor diminish their interest, and eternity will pre- 
serve them among the dearest reminiscences of 
earth. We may meet and love other faces, we may 
treasure other words, we may have other joys, 
but those familiar faces, and those dear old places, 
remain invested with a fadeless beauty. They be- 
come the stars in the firmament of youth, lighting 
up the night of the past, and when in later years 
the shades of sorrow gather around the soul, 
memory reveals those stars still shining. 

HENRY A. WALKER. 

[126] 



The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 
— Jeremiah 17:9. 

SELFISHNESS may masquerade as love. It 
may christen its own sins, foibles, by condon- 
ing the offences of others, meaning at the same 
time to lug its own sins through the breach in the 
legal wall that it has made for other people's delin- 
quencies. That self-cheat is a fruit of the heart that 
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 

To escape this error the Bible must be constantly 
studied. It is a " lamp unto the feet and a light 
unto the path," but if it is left on a book-shelf 
opened only on special occasions, ... it cannot 
light one through these difficult ways. 

"The heart is deceitful" ; this defines sin clearly, 
warns the transgressor plainly, and swings its lurid 
danger signal over the abyss of despair, and sets 
forth distinctly the fact that no amiability, not 
even the moralities, can cure sin. 

Lord ! we would put aside 
The gauds and baubles of this mortal life — 
Weak self-conceit, the foolish tools of strife, 

The tawdry garb of pride — 

And pray, in Christ's dear name, 
Thy grace to deck us in the robes of light ; 
That at His coming we may stand aright, 

And fear no sudden shame. 

AN ADVENT CAROL. 
[197] 



§>ei)entl) SDap 

We shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on 
incorrtiption, and this mortal must put on immortality. — 
I Corinthians 15 : 53. 

IF life be regarded as the commencement of 
immortality, it will be freed from trifling asso- 
ciations, and still more from those which are low 
and degrading. It will assume a permanence in 
our eyes from its first moment to its last. It will 
be the opening of a boundless career. Death will 
no more be a violent extinction, a fathomless and 
frightful chasm, a blank oblivion ; but it will be a 
change, a landing-place, an entrance into the ever- 
lasting abode of spirits and of God. It will be 
regarded by the contemplative as 
Life's last shore, 

Where vanities are vain no more, 

Where all pursuits their goal obtain, 

And life is all retouched again ; 

When in their bright results shall rise 

Thoughts, virtues, friendships, griefs, and joys. 

With rest almost in sight the spirit faints, 
And flesh and heart grow weary at the last ; 

Our feet would walk the city of the saints, 
Even before the silent gate is passed. 

Teach us to wait until Thou shalt appear — 
To know that all Thy ways and times are just : 

Thou seest what we believe and fear, 
Lord, make us also to believe and trust ! 

[128] PHCEBE CARY. 



0pay 



Ctg^tl) 2Dap 



Say to them that are of a fearful heart : Be strong, fear 
not. — Isaiah 35 : 4. 

LET not future things disturb thee, for thou 
wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, 
having with thee the same reason which thou now 
usest for present things. 

MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 

Be quiet, why this anxious heed 

About thy tangled ways ? 
God knows them all, He giveth speed, 

And He allows delays. e. w. 

Let God do with me what He will, anything He 
will ; whatever it be, it will either be heaven itself 
or some beginning of it. william mountford. 

Cast all thy care on God. See that all thy cares 
be such as thou canst cast on God, and then hold 
none back. Never brood over thyself ; but cast 
thy whole self, even this very care which distresseth 
thee, upon God. Be not anxious about little things, 
if thou wouldst learn to trust God with thine all. 
Act upon faith in little things, commit thy daily 
cares and anxieties to Him ; and He will strengthen 
thy faith for any greater trials. e. b. pusey. 

What though I stand and work alone? 

In some fair, unborn year 
From seed which I in tears have sown 

A harvest will appear. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[129] 



$int\) HDap 

Let all thy ways be established. — Proverbs 4 : 26. 

DO you know what it is to be established ? God 
give us the power to form habits that we may 
crystallize character. All improvement in the fin- 
gers of the knitter, the eye of the painter, the 
tongue of the speaker, the hand of the artisan, is 
the gift of habit. Prayer, faith, regularity, all that 
builds up steadiness of character, is augmented by 
habit. Habit is the parent's hold upon the child, 
the good man's power against Satan. To form 
habit apply yourself to a given plan industriously, 
punctually, and persistently. 

Having this power in your mind, use it in acquir- 
ing habits of obedience and of faith. 

To repel one's task will only make it more diffi- 
cult ; to accept it is the sole way to make it tolera- 
ble. And, rightly accepted, peace, if not happiness, 
will follow its fulfilment, " as waves flow in the fur- 
row of the ship's strong keel." 

j. j. Mclaughlin. 

My half-day's work is done, 

And this is all my part, 
I give a patient God 

My constant heart, 
And clasp His banner still, 

Though all the blue be dim ; 
These stripes, no less than stars, 

Lead after Him. 
[130] 



Day unto day utter eth speech. — Psalm 19: 2. 

THERE is no day born but comes like a stroke 
of music into the world, and sings itself all 
the way through. No event is discordant. All times 
and passages are full of melody, if we would but 
hear it; as in tumultuous floods and rushing falls of 
water, every drop is as obedient to the laws of 
nature as if it lay in the bosom of the tranquil lake, 
so all things, wildest excesses as well as calmest 
flows, are obedient to God ; His providence is in 
them, stately and as serene going on to its own 
ends and manifestations. 

BEECHER. 

This is the earth He walked on ; not alone 
That Asian country keeps the stain ; 
'Tis not alone that far Judean plain, 
Mountain and river ! Lo, the sun that shone 

On Him shines now on us ; when day is gone 
The moon of Galilee comes forth again 
And lights our path as His : an endless chain 
Of years and sorrows makes the round world one. 

The air we breathe, He breathed, — the very air 
That took the mould and music of His high 
And God-like speech. Since then shall mortal 
dare 

With base thought front the ever-sacred sky, — 
Soil with foul deed the ground whereon He laid 
In holy death His pale, immortal head ? 

RICHARD WATSON GILDER. 
[131] 



Clebentf) 2Dap 

Grievous words stir up anger. — Proverbs 15 : 1. 

THE silence of our innocence persuades when 
speaking fails. Shakespeare. 

Since I cannot govern my tongue, though within 
my own teeth, how can I hope to govern the tongues 
of others? franklin. 

The Tone of the Voice. 
It is not so much what you say 

As the manner in which you say it ; 
It is not so much the language you use, 

As the tone in which you convey it. 

" Come here ! " I sharply said, 

And the baby cowered and wept ; 
" Come here ! " I cooed, and he looked and smiled, 

And straight to my lap he crept. 

The words may be mild and fair, 

And the tones may pierce like a dart ; 

The words may be soft as the summer air, 
And the tones may break the heart. 

For words but come from the mind, 

And grow by study and art ; 
But the tones leap forth from the inner self, 

And reveal the state of the heart. 

THE YOUTH'S COMPANION. 

Think before you speak. The ones we wound by 
unkind speech are most often those whose intimate 
relation with us affords us opportunity for the sud- 
den thrust. [132] 



tlPtoelftl) st>a? 

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. — 
Psalm 116 : 15. 

DEATH is made the conqueror's coronation. 
The sunset means eternal day with the 
trusting soul. Faith looks beyond the veil, where 
voices call and hands beckon from the eternal future. 
Hence, we ever "look up," and from the seat on 
the throne with Christ we shall wait the ingathering 
of the cycles of eternity. When the stars have 
grown old, we shall be young. When the moon 
turns pale, our garlands will be fresh. When we 
have been singing ten thousand ages, the song we 
sing will be new. .Heaven will never be exhausted. 

c. P. MASDEN. 

" Sailor ! " we cried, " tell us where lies thy port ! " 
And still came back the answer, clear and strong, 
" I know not where, yet am I homeward bound, 
This is His sea ; its pulses rise and fall 
As His breath moves them, and its currents set 
Steady and deep, to bear me where He will." 
So he sailed on, and once, when stars were large 
And luminous, through changeful purple mists, 
Rocked by slow waves that bore him from our sight, 
And calm with peace that lay too deep for smiles, 
He drifted gently to a palm-girt shore, 
And knew, at last, where God's fair islands lie. 

EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER. 
[133] 



0&V 

For nowzve see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. — 
I Corinthians 13 : 12. 

WHEN Alston died, he left sketches, with here 
and there a part finished with wonderful 
beauty. So Christians go to heaven with their vir- 
tues in outline, only here and there a part completed. 
But " that which is in part shall be done away," and 
God shall finish the pictures. beecher. 

I was so near the garden wall, 
The drooping vines and maples tall, 
The lawn, the house, each well-known place, 
And yet the fog hid every trace 
Of any dear remembered face. 
A little world drew near apace 
And shut me in — so small and round, 
So narrow, cold, and dark, I found 
No hint of all that lay so near 
Of beauty, light, and love's good cheer. 
But soon the rift grew wide and high, 
And sunlight, flashing from blue sky, 
Revealed each well-remembered spot 
The fog had lately blotted out. 
So after days brought mist and doubt, 
And shut the love of God without ; 
And then again a sunbeam sped 
Through waves of cloud above my head, 
And as I looked through rifts of cloud 
I found familiar paths to God. 

ETTA R. McCAUGHEY. 
[134] 



jfourtmul) sr>a? 

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil ; he shall preserve 
thy soul. — Psalm 131 : 7. 

YOUR external circumstances may change, toil 
may take the place of rest, sickness of health, 
trials may thicken within and without. Externally, 
you are the prey of such circumstances ; but if your 
heart is stayed on God, no changes or chances can 
touch it, and all that may befall you will but draw 
you closer to Him. Whatever the present moment 
may bring, your knowledge that it is His will, and 
that your future heavenly life will be influenced by 
it, will make all not only tolerable, but welcome. 

JEAN NICOLAS GROU. 

But when the sharp strokes flesh and heart run 

through, 
For thee and not another : only known, 
In all the universe, through sense of thine ; 
Not caught by eye or ear, not felt by touch, 
Nor apprehended by the spirit's sight, 
But only by the hidden, tortured nerves, 
In all their incommunicable pain, — 
God speaks Himself to us, as mothers speak 
To their own babes, upon the tender flesh 
With fond familiar touches close and dear ; — 
Because He cannot choose a softer way 
To make us feel that He Himself is near, 
And each apart His own beloved and known. 

UGO BASSI. 

[135] 



jftfteentl) aDap 

The tree is known by his fruit. — S. Matthew 12 : 33. 

MANY great projects have their beginnings in 
littleness and obscurity. We are prone to 
dwell upon certain epochs in the history of nations, 
or upon crisis-hours in the lives of men, rather than 
upon the common level of every-day life. We 
wonder over results without considering causes. 
Little heeding the undercurrent of feeling, which 
silently gathers force and form, as it nears the 
shores of visible success, we fail to divine the 
secret unrest which impels its direction. 

A poet, gazing upon a Moslem temple, marvelled 
over the massive grandeur of its ancient walls which 
centuries had not shaken. Faith forsook his soul, 
when he saw the shrine of the false prophet firmly, 
planted where men had striven in vain to estab- 
lish a temple of the living Christ. But scaling 
the giddy wall, he found the stones broken and 
crumbled, where a peepul-tree had sprung from a 
seed, chance-flung upon the roof. That was the 
atom which was to shatter the temple of a false 
religion. The little seed 

" Did more to shiver the ancient wall, 
Than earthquake, war, simoon, and all 
The centuries in their lapse and fall." 
So it is in the spiritual realm. Our lives are wrought 
upon by invisible forces, and the world recognizes 
the power of those agencies only when it sees their 
accomplished work. mrs. john jay McCabe. 

[136] 



/ zvill be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. — Psalm 31:7. 

MY little leaves, why are you glad ? 
Answer, quivering little leaves, 
Small clapping leaves, so freshly clad, 
In a green world that never grieves. 
Answer me, for my heart is sad ! 
"Love God, love God ! " they sing, 
Gay as the birds a-wing. 

My little flowers, what's your delight? 

Now answer, for my soul believes 
In your sweet petals, pure and white, 

Sweet purity no man deceives. 
Answer, my flow'rets fair and bright. 

" Love God, love God ! " they sing, 

Gay as the birds a-wing. 

The flowers and grass make their reply, 

With all the merry clapping leaves, 
And echoing the holy cry, 

The drooping heart its joy retrieves. 
All voices to their maker fly. 

" Love God, love God ! " they sing, 

Gay as the birds a-wing. 

CONSTANCE HOPE. 

The utterances of God are all around us if we 
will but hear them. Even in the discords that jar 
the music of every life, the accents of goodness 
and mercy and divine love may be heard. 

[ J 37] 



&tbmttmt\) 2T>a£ 

Unto the land flowing with milk and honey. — Jeremiah 
32 : 22. 

PROSPECT closely resembles retrospect. The 
traveller, who stands at a journey's end, weary, 
and travel-stained with the dust of the way, looks 
back over his road, with ■ a mind enriched by in- 
cidents of the journey. Travel has made him 
wise ; we call him a sage. But the traveller, with 
his voyage yet before him, sees all things, not in 
retrospect, but in prospect. . . . He sees visions 
of holy peoples, heavenly lands and wonderful 
scenes, towards which he is setting his face. He 
becomes a seer. edward g. Baldwin. 

Oh, as I rest when the long march is over, 
Loosing* my sandals at close of the day, 
Journeyings ended, no longer a rover, 

Still keep me near Thee forever and aye. 
Then while I swell the glad strain of rejoicing 

Pealing far over Eternity's sea, 
This is the theme I will ever be voicing, 
Nearer my Saviour, still nearer to Thee ! 
Pilgrimage ended, 
Lights and shades blended, 
Then face to face will I see 

How Thou did'st lead me, 
How Thou did'st speed me, 
Nearer and nearer to Thee ! 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[138] 



(Bigtltemtt) 2Dap 

Give us this day our daily bread. — The Lord's Prayer. 

"/^MVE us our daily bread," we pray, 
Vjf And know but half of what we say. 

The bread on which our bodies feed 
Is but the moiety of our need. 

The soul, the heart, must nourished be, 
And share the daily urgency. 

And though it may be bitter bread 
On which the nobler parts are fed, 

No less we crave the daily dole, 
O Lord, of body and of soul ! 

Sweet loaves, the wine must all afoam, 
The manna and the honey-comb, 

All these are good, but better still 

The food which checks and moulds the will. 

The sting for pride, the smart for sin — 
The purging draught for self within, 

The sorrows which we shuddering meet, 
Not knowing their after-taste of sweet, 

All these we ask for when we pray, 
"Give us our daily bread this day." 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

O Father, give us, we pray Thee, not what we 
in our blindness ask for, but what Thou in Thy 
wisdom seest that we need ! 

[139] 



apa? 



$imtetntb HDap 



For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father 
will also forgive you. — S. Matthew 6: 14. 

MY heart was heavy, for its trust had been 
Abused, its kindness answered with foul 
wrong ; 
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men, 

One summer Sabbath-day I strolled among 
The green mounds of the village burial-place ; 

Where, pondering how all human love and hate 

Find one sad level ; and how, soon or late, 
Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face, 
And cold hands folded over a still heart, 

Pass the green threshold of our common grave, 
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart, 
Awed for myself, and pitying my race, 
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave, 

Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave. 

WHITTIER. 

Think on thy wants, on thy faults. Recollect all 
the patience, all the kindness, all the tenderness, 
which has been shown thee. Think also on life — 
how short it is, how much unavoidable bitterness it 
possesses ; how much which it is easy either to 
bear or chase away ; and think how the power of 
affection can make all things right. 

FREDERIKA BREMER. 

Not how much we have borne, but how freely 
we have forgiven, will be the plea which wins our 
own pardon. 

[140] 



fl£a? 



Wtatntittf) Dap 

Restore tinto me. — Psalm 51 : 12. 

I LOST a friend the other day — 
His heart was pure and strong and true ; 
Our days were sweet, but all too few ; 
He passed from earth — the other day. 
But while I see him here no more, 
I know that on a happier shore, 
Not here, but in eternity, 
God will give back my friend to me. 

I lost a friend long years ago — 

Awhile our paths together lay, 

And we were happy by the way 
Until we parted — years ago. 
From out each other's lives we passed ; 
Each went his way, but yet, at last, 

Or here, or in eternity, 

God will give back my friend to me. 

I lost a friend — or, shall I say, 

He lost himself ! For sin and shame 
Have left me little but the name 

Of him I loved, and love to-day. 

My friend, as lost, I weep, deplore ; 

But faith says : " One can save, restore." 
To Thee I come, I pray to Thee, 
O Christ, give back my friend to me. 

PATON H. HOGE. 

[141] 



My grace is sufficient for thee. — 2 Corinthians 12:9. 

GOD is enough ! thou, who in hope and fear 
Toilest through desert-sands of life, sore-tried, 
Climb trustful over death's black ridge, for near 
The bright wells shine : thou wilt be satisfied. 

God doth suffice ! O thou, the patient one, 
Who puttest faith in Him, and none beside, 

Bear yet thy load ; under the setting sun 

The glad tents gleam : thou wilt be satisfied. 

By God's gold Afternoon ! peace ye shall have ; 

Man is in loss except he live aright, 
And help his fellow to be firm and brave, 

Faithful and patient : then the restful night ! 

EDWIN ARNOLD. 

I have seemed to see a need of everything God 
gives me, and want nothing that He denies me. 
There is no dispensation, though afflictive, but 
either in it, or after it, I find that I could not be 
without it. Whether it be taken from or not given 
me, sooner or later God quiets me in Himself 
without it. I cast all my concerns on the Lord, 
and live securely on the care and wisdom of my 
Heavenly Father. 

My ways, you know, are, in a sense, hedged up 
with thorns, and grow darker and darker daily; 
but yet I distrust not my God in the least, and live 
more quietly in the absence of all faith, than I 
should do, I am persuaded, if I possessed them. 
[142] 



$®ay 



Abide till ye go thence. — S. Matthew io : 1 1. 
The Master of flie Isles. 



J 



UST beyond our utmost fathom 
Is the anchorage we crave, 

But the Master knows the soundings 
By the reach of every wave 



What imperial adventure 

Some wide morning it will be, 

Sweeping to the Lonely Haven 
From the chartless round of sea ! 

How imposing a departure, 
While this little harbor smiles, 

Steering for the outer sea-rim 
With the Master of the Isles ! 

BLISS CARMAN. 

As strangers and voyagers our city of habitation 
is not here ; the houses we build are but for the 
hour ; the city, whose builder and maker is God, 
shines everlastingly ; and those mansions, not made 
with hands but eternal in the heavens, are our 
home. Thitherward we flock in companies and in 
families — thither each is tending. And we rejoice 
that God is sending forth messages to us by the 
hour ; that we are remembered, and that we are 
secured. beecher. 

[143] 



Ye have need of patience. — Hebrews io : 36. 

THERE are many trials in life which do not 
seem to come from unwisdom or folly. They 
are silver arrows shot from the bow of God, and 
fixed inextricably in the quivering heart. They are 
to be borne. They are not meant, like snow on 
water, to melt as soon as they strike. But the 
moment an ill can be borne patiently, it is disarmed 
of its poison, though not of its pain. beecher. 

There will come a weary day 
When, overtaxed at length, 
Both hope and love beneath 
The weight give way. 
Then with a statue's smile, 
A statue's strength, 
Patience, nothing loth, 
And uncomplaining, does 
The work of both. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

We have very little command over the circum- 
stances in which we may be called by God to do 
our part, but unlimited command over the temper 

Of OUr SOUls. J. H. THOM. 

God has but one duty at a time for any child of 
His to perform. If we are doing the one duty He 
has for us to do at the present moment, that is all 
that He requires. The results are His. 
[144] 



^av 



I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk 
worthy of the vocation wherezvith ye are called. — Ephesians 
4:1. 

DO not dare to think that a child of God can 
worthily work out his career or worthily serve 
God's other children unless he does both in the 
love and fear of God, their Father. Be sure that 
ambition and charity themselves will grow mean 
unless they are both inspired and exalted by re- 
ligion. PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

What Might Be Done. 

What might be done if. men were wise — 
What glorious deeds, my suffering brother, 
Would they unite, 
In love and right, 
And cease their scorn of one another. 

Oppression's heart might be imbued 

With kindling drops of loving-kindness, 

And knowledge pour, 

From shore to shore, 

Light on the eyes of mental darkness. 

The meanest wretch that ever trod, 
The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, 
Might stand erect, 
In self-respect, 
And share the teeming world to-morrow. 

CHARLES MACKAY. 
[145] 



®$ay 



Watch therefore ; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth 
come. — S. Matthew 24 : 42. 

What of the Day ? 

WHAT of the day? Do you ask? 
Then assuredly know 
That the day which began weary ages ago 
Speeds on to an issue sublime ; 
And the King — whose glad coming draws hourly 

more near — 
Will, haply, when least you expect Him, appear, 
And the blessed, long-prayed-for Sabbatical year 
Usher in, in the fulness of time. 

Will you hasten the day? 

Will you labour and pray ? 

Will you thrust in the sickle and reap while you 

may, 
The plenteous harvests that lie 
Waiting still for our hand 
In every land, 

And rip'ning 'neath every sky ? 
Will you gather the stones for His temple divine ? 
And the gems in the crown of His glory to shine 
Brighter far than the sun ? 

And then when He comes, bowing low at His feet, 
With rapture unspeakable hear Him repeat, 
" Well done, thou good servant, well done ! " 

Four things come not back : the spoken word, the 
sped arrow, the past life, the neglected opportunity. 

[146] 



$®ay 



Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. 
i Peter i : 7. 

TO-MORROW you have no business with. 
You steal if you touch to-morrow. It is 
God's. Every day has in it enough to keep every 
man occupied, without concerning himself with the 
things which lie beyond. beecher. 

Be not anxious about to-morrow. Do to-day's, 
fight to-day's, temptation ; and do not weaken and 
distract yourself by looking forward to things which 
you cannot see, and would not understand if you 
saw them. Charles kingsley. 

It is not the cares of to-day, but the cares of 
to-morrow, that weigh a man down. For the need 
of to-day we have a corresponding strength given. 
For the to-morrow we are told to trust. It is not 
ours yet, and it may never be. It is enough to be 
patient unto the coming of the Lord and to do the 
work of the present hour, george macdonald. 

Thou, who hast made the weakest strong 

In holy trust and high endeavor, 
And taught the fainting soul to sing, 

"Thy God forsakes the righteous never," 
On Thee, the Rock, Thy people rest, 

And bear unmoved each wave of sorrow, 
Knowing, Who giveth present good 

Will strength impart for each to-morrow. 

MRS. ANNA M. HUNTLEY. 

[147] 



I am a burden to myself. — Job 7 : 20. 

THIS is sometimes the language of the afflicted. 
Thus it was the exclamation of Job. We 
talk of trouble. He could say, " Behold, and see if 
ever there was sorrow like unto my sorrow." If we 
cannot approve of the strength of his complaint, 
we hardly know how to condemn it. God Himself 
overlooks it, and only holds him forth as an exam- 
ple of patience. . . . Afflictions may be great in 
themselves from their number and frequency, and 
suddenness and subject. But yield not to im- 
patience and despondency. Such afflictions have 
often introduced a train of mercies, and the valley 
of Achor has been a door of hope/ How many in 
heaven, how many on earth, are now thanking God 
for their trials. He knows how to deliver. Say, 
" Lord, I am oppressed ; undertake for me." 
" Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall 
sustain thee." william jay. 

Faith, patience, love, we need to cultivate, 

Our faint hearts are so ready to despair, 
So prone to cry the burden is too great 

For us to bear. 
He sends the bitter who has sent the sweet, 

And it is best, 
And often 'tis in sorrow and defeat 

That we are blessed. 

[148] 



Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. — S. 
John 13:9. 

THE secret which selfishness never masters 
is this of the joy of consecration. In self- 
devotion for king or cause, those who would lose 
their life have found it, and in carelessness of them- 
selves have gained grace and renown. But no 
such joy, elsewhere known among men, has risen 
to the pitch of his or hers on whom the vision of 
Christ has shone. Emancipation from all defer- 
ence to the world has been their prerogative. The 
hardest and bleakest conditions of life have become 
to them as jasper walls and crystal pavements. 
The heart dilates now with equal triumph, while 
gathering to itself divinest quality, whenever de- 
voted in a similar sense to the King of the World. 
And he now feels it has in it the vital and sure 
presage of victory. He follows the banners that 
never go down. His Leader is one who knows no 
defeat. 

Take my life, and let it be 
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. 
Take my heart : it is Thine own; 
It shall be Thy royal throne. 
Take my love ; my Lord, I pour 
At Thy feet its treasure-store. 
Take myself, and I will be 
Ever, only, all for Thee. 

HAVERGAL. 

[149] 



0MV 

tKtuent?=ntntl) 2i>ap 

Let those that trust in thee rejoice. — Psalm 5:11. 

HAPPINESS, according to the laws of nature 
and of God, inheres in voluntary and pleas- 
urable activities; and activity - increases happiness 
in proportion as it is diffusive. No man can be so 
happy as he who is engaged in a regular business 
that tasks the greatest part of his mind. I had 
almost said that it was the beau-ideal of happiness 
for a man to be so busy that he does not know 
whether he is or is not happy ; who has not time 
to think about himself at all. The man who rises 
early in the morning, joyful and happy, with an 
appetite for business as well as for breakfast ; who 
has a love for his work, and runs eagerly to it as a 
child runs to its play ; who finds himself refreshed 
by it in every part of his day, and rests after it as 
from a wholesome and delightful fatigue, — has one 
great and very essential element of happiness. 

BEECHER. 

Take joy home, 
And make a place in thy great heart for her, 
And give her time to grow, and cherish her, 
Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee 
When thou art working in the furrows ; aye, 
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. 

It is a comely fashion to be glad ; 

Joy is the grace that we say to God. 

JEAN INGELOW. 
[ISO] 



jttai? 



®\)ittitt\) E>ap 



And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of 
a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto 
young men, but unto all his nation. — n Maccabees 6: 31. 



IT is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
great task remaining before us, that from these 
honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion ; that we here highly resolve that these 
dead shall not have died in vain ; and this nation, 
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and 
that government of the people, by the people, and 
for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG. 



Thank God for deeds of valor done ! 

Thank God for victories hardly won ! 
That such as you need never know 
The anguish of those dark days of woe ; 

For time and peace old wounds have healed, 

And flowers now strew the battle-field. 

HELEN HUNT. 



Abraham Lincoln — for them, as for him, char- 
acter decreed a life and a death. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

[151] 



mv. 



®l)irtg=fiist sua? 

Thy will be done. — The Lord's Prayer. 

WHEN the loss of property and the severance 
of friendships has come, when the future 
is overcast, and we know nothing of what is before 
us except simply this, that God's will must be done, 
and when we try to leave all to Him, the endurance 
which then reveals itself is the masterful power of 
the human will. Men trained in this experience 
cannot be frightened nor disheartened by troubles, 
however great. r. s. storrs. 

Lord, carry me. — Nay, but I grant thee strength 
To walk and work thy way to heaven at length. 

Lord, why then am I weak ? — Because I give 
Power to the weak, and bid the dying live. 

Lord, I am tired. — He hath not much desired 
The goal, who at the starting-point is tired. 

Lord, dost Thou know? — I know what is in man; 
What the flesh can, and what the spirit can. 

Lord, dost Thou care ? — Yea, for thy gain or loss 
So much I cared, it brought Me to the cross. 

Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief. — 
Good is the word; but rise, for life is brief. 
The follower is not greater than the Chief; 
Follow thou Me along My way of grief. 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 

[152] 



Slime 

t 

i?£r0t 2T>a^ 

^ friend loveth at all times. — Proverbs 17 : 17. 

§TpY friend he was ; my friend from all the rest ; 
^'* With child -like faith he oped to me his heart : 
No door was locked on altar, grave or grief; 
No weakness veiled, concealed no disbelief; 
The hope, the sorrow, and the wrong were bare, 
And oh, the shadow only showed the fair ! 

I gave him love for love ; but deep within, 
I magnified each frailty into sin ; 
He smiled upon the censorship, and bore 
With patient love the touch that wounded sore ; 
Until at length, so had my blindness grown, 
He knew I judged him by his faults alone. 

At last it came — the day he stood apart, 

When from my eyes he proudly veiled his heart . . . 

When in his face I read what I had been 

And with his vision saw what I had seen. 

Too late ! too late ! O, could he then have known 

When his love died that mine had perfect grown ; 

And when the veil was drawn, abused, chastised, 

The censor stood, the lost one truly prized. 

Too late we learn that man must hold his friend 

Unjudged, accepted, faultless to the end. 

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. 

[153] 



3|une 



g>econD sr>a^ 



Knoiv ye not thai ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit 
of God dwelleth in you. — I Corinthians 3: 16. 



S 



LOWLY through all the universe, that temple 



world, a soul, by free-willed obedience, catches the 
fire of God's likeness, it is set into the growing 
wall a living stone. When in your hard fight, your 
tiresome drudgery, or in your terrible temptation, 
you catch the purpose of your being, and give your- 
self to God, and so give Him the chance to give 
Himself to you, your life, a living stone, is taken 
up and set into that growing wall. . . . Wherever 
souls are being tried and ripened, in whatever com- 
monplace and homely ways ; — there God is hew- 
ing out the pillars for His temple. Oh, if the stone 
can only have some vision of the temple of which 
it is to lie a part forever, what patience must fill it 
as it feels the blows of the hammer, and knows 
that success for it is simply to let itself be wrought 
into what shape the Master wills. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, 
which God has been so good as to fasten with His 
own hands upon our shoulders. faber. 

If only dear to God the strong 

That never trip nor wander, 
Where were the throng whose morning song 

Thrills His blue arches yonder ? lowell. 

[154] 



9Iime 



®i)tro 2E>at? 



SIGH and grieve that you are so carnal and 
worldly, and your passions so unmortified. 

That you are so full of corrupt inclinations, so 
unguarded in your outward senses, so often ensnared 
by many vain imaginations. 

So much inclined to outward things, so negligent 
as to inward. 

So ready for laughter and dissipation, so unready 
for weeping and compunction. 

So prompt for relaxation and bodily comfort, so 
disinclined for austerity and fervor. 

So curious to hear news and see fine sights, so 
slack to embrace what is lowly and common. 

So eager to have much, so sparing in giving, so 
close in retaining. 

So inconsiderate in speech, so unable to keep 
silence, so undisciplined in manners, so impetuous 
in actions. 

So hasty to take rest, so slow to labor. 

So wakeful to attend to stories, so sleepy at holy 
vigils. 

So anxious to finish devotions, so wandering in 
attention. 

So soon distracted, so rarely fully collected. 

So suddenly stirred to anger, so apt to take 
offence. 

So often making good resolutions, so seldom 
bringing them to good effect. 

THOMAS A KEMPIS. 

[155] 



3]une 

jfouttlj Dap 

Take heed to your spirit. — Malachi II : 15. 

THFRE is no situation which we cannot 
sweeten or embitter at will. If the past 
is gloomy, there is no need of dwelling upon it. If 
the mind can make one vigorous exertion, it can 
another. The same energy you put forth in acquir- 
ing knowledge would enable you also to baffle mis- 
fortune. Determine not to think of what is pain- 
ful, resolutely turn away from vexatious subjects, 
bend all your attention to more elevating interests, 
and then you defeat the woes of the past. It is for 
the future and in the future that we live. 

Strength of character is not mere strength of 
feeling ; it is the resolute restraint of strong feeling. 
It is unyielding resistance to whatever would dis- 
concert us from without or unsettle us from within. 

DICKENS. 

A man's house should be on the hill-top of cheer- 
fulness and serenity, so high that no shadows rest 
upon it, and where the morning comes so early that 
the day has twice as many golden hours as those of 
other men. He is to be pitied whose house is in 
some valley of grief between the hills, with the 
longest night and the shortest day. Home should 
be the centre of joy, equatorial and tropical. 

BEECHER. 

[156] 



3iune 

jftftt) 2Pa? 

Be ye doers of the zvord and not hearers only. — S. James 
I : 22. 

O PATIENT, willing doers of the word — 
Who worship tireless at the Master's shrine, 
With hearts that gentle charity has stirred 

To acts and deeds of pity half divine — 
O blessed, faithful children of trie King, 

To whom the Saviour's shield of faith is given, 
Full many a golden sheaf your arm shall bring 
When all the reapers gather home in heaven ! 

IDA SCOTT TAYLOR. 

We must love the Lord if we would learn to 
serve Him and win others to Him. 

WILLIAM ORMISTON. 

Do something in this busy, bustling, wide-awake 
world. Move about for the benefit of mankind, if 
not for yourselves. john b. gough. 

Better a day of strife 

Than a century of sleep. ryan. 

I count this thing to be grandly true : 

That a noble deed is a step toward God, 
Lifting the soul from the common sod 

To a purer air and a broader view. 

HOLLAND. 

Cast forth thy act, thy word, into the ever-living, 
ever-working universe. carlyle. 

[iS7] 



31wne 



g>tjttt) 2Pap 

As the duty of every day required. — 2 Chronicles 8 : 14. 

THE heroes of the race shrank doubtless from 
their work as you are shrinking now from 
yours, — from a sense of unfitness. 

At length, unable longer to resist the call of duty, 
" each forgot his weakness and went and worked 
his fragment." So for each of us the duty waits. 
Our deed may not seem worth the doing, because 
so small. But it is our "fragment" and must be 
done; and no one else can do it for us. Let not 
life, then, be frittered away in vacillation and weak 
compliances, "like those meagre streamlets which 
seem to lose their way at every new impediment, 
forever turning backward or turning around; nor, 
on the other hand, emulate the headlong mountain 
torrent, boisterous and destructive." Let the ideal 
of your strength rather be that of the ocean, which, 
as one finely observes in the calmest hour, still 
heaves its resistless might of waters to the shore 
with an imperial consciousness of strength that 
laughs at opposition. 

Practise thy spirit to great thoughts and things ; 

We can foretell the future of ourselves, 
And fateful only to himself is each." 

WILLIAM J. TILLEY. 
[158] 



3|ime 



g>etimrt) SDa^ 



Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? — 
S. Matthew 6 : 25. 

IF a man's mind be thoroughly alive, he cannot 
be content with good health, good revenue, and 
good dwelling. There are heart-achings and out- 
goings which waste the life, which cannot be soothed 
or appeased by bread alone. On the one hand you 
find sad hearts surrounded by the highest personal 
and social advantages, and on the other you will 
find hearts glad with unspeakable joy in spite of 
circumstances the most untoward and harassing. 
It is therefore, in the opinion of Christian thinkers, 
a superficial and mocking theory of human happi- 
ness which concerns itself mainly with circum- 
stances. What is wanted is a principle which will 
put all accidental conditions in their right place, 
and persistently remind man that " the life is more 
than bread," and that apparent failure may be real 

SUCCeSS. JOSEPH PARKER. 

It is God who prepares men when He intends 
to use them, and who gives them just what they 
require for their work, and that by a marvellous 
succession of events, the connection of which can 
only be seen when we examine the whole chain. 
As I glance over my own life, from whatever side, I 
view it all converging to the point where I now 
stand. LACORDAIRE. 

[159] 



91ime 



Happy shalt thou be. — Psalm 128 : 2. 

HAPPY is the man who has that in his soul 
which acts upon the dejected as April show- 
ers upon violet roots. Gifts from the hand are sil- 
ver and gold ; but the heart gives that which neither 
silver nor gold can buy. To be full of goodness, 
to be full of cheerfulness, full of hope, full of sym- 
pathy, causes a man to carry blessings of which he 
himself is as unconscious as a lamp of its own 
shining. Such an one moves on human life like as 
stars move on dark seas to bewildered mariners ; as 
the sun wheels, bringing all the seasons with him 
from the south. beecher. 

Forget the past, and live the present hour ; 

Now is the time to work, the time to fill 

The soul with noblest thought, the time to will 
Heroic deeds, to use whatever dower 
Heaven has bestowed, to test our utmost power. 

Now is the time to love, and better still, 

To serve our loved ones ; over passing ill 
To rise triumphant. Thus the perfect flower 

Of life shall come to fruitage ; wealth amass 
For grandest giving ere the time is gone. 

Be glad to-day, to-morrow may bring tears ; 

Be brave to-day, the darkest night will pass, 
And golden rays will usher in the dawn ; 

Who conquers now shall rule the coming years. 

SARAH K. BOLTON. 
[160] 



91ime 



0nt\) 2Pa^ 



I will not forsake my people. — I Kings 6: 13. 

I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. — Isaiah 41 : 17. 

Forsake Me Not 

FORSAKE me not, though fast the night is falling 
And shadows gather in the darkened sky. 
I cannot fear, when Thou, O God, art calling, 
I cannot fall when Thy kind arms are nigh. 
Stay Thou with me ! be Thou my refuge ever, 
My strength, my all — whatever be my lot ! 
Oh, bless me with Thy gracious love forever, 
And in the gloom of night forsake me not ! 

Forsake me not in time of tribulation, 

Be Thou my Rock and Fortress in despair ; 
Oh, fill my burdened soul with Thy salvation, 

And pour Thy spirit's balm on all my care. 
Though sorrows break my heart, O gracious Father, 

Thy rod and staff can comfort my distress ! 
Though grief oppress, and heavy tear-drops gather, 

Thy pitying love can bring me sweet redress. 

Forsake me not ! breathe Thou into my being 

The very breath of heaven from above • 
Unseal my eyes, that I Thy goodness seeing 

May know and feel Thy deep, Thy boundless love. 
In storm or calm, be Thou, O God, beside me — 

That I, Thy child, may never be forgot ; 
Through shade or sun, by day or night-time guide me 

Through all my journey, oh, forsake me not ! 

IDA SCOTT TAYLOR. 
[161] 



3|ime 

tEenti) H>ap 

Ponder the path of thy feet. — Proverbs 15 : 26. 

AMONG the pitfalls in our way, 
The best of us walk blindly ; 
So, man, be wary, watch and pray, 
And judge your brother kindly. 

ALICE CARY. 

We are all wicked ; what one of us blames in 
another each will find in his own breast. 

SENECA. 

Into the path of sin 
One step may take you, 
For wrong lies near 
To the path of right ; 
But lower down 
From right to wrong, 
The way descends ; 
But back again to right 
Tis steep and rugged. 

How often do we confess the same sins and pray 
against them, and yet still commit them as much 
as ever, and lie as deeply under the power of them ! 
We raise a great deal of dust under our feet, but we 
do not move from off the ground on which we stood. 
We do not go forward at all. We do, and undo. 
We weave sometimes a web of holiness, but we let 
evil and thoughtless purposes in, and unravel all 
again. Nothing but the grace of God can save 
us from sin. 

[162] 



3Iune 



He chasteneth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of 
his holiness. — Hebrews 12 : 10. 

OWHAT will that joy be, where the soul, being 
perfectly prepared for joy, and joy prepared 
by Christ for the soul, it shall be our business eter- 
nally to rejoice ! william j. tilley. 

A Husk. 
I take it in my hand, 

A form whose use is o'er, 
Cast off by the ripe soul 

That needed it no more. 

A withered, worthless thing, 

The mocking whirlwind's scorn — 

Would God have cared to fashion it 
Except to shield the corn? 

MARY F. BUTTS. 

Then shall a new, a spirit childhood come, 
A fresher sense of life in thee have room ! 
A life that knows no pain, no death, no tomb ! 
There sight shall know what faith hath first 

believed, 
There perfect trust thy heart hath not conceived, 

There saddening thoughts be gone, thy mind here 
grieved ! 
Then for the work, my soul, that waits thee there, 
A firm, bold heart, within thee bear, 

Undimmed by painful thoughts, unbowed by care. 

WILLIAM J. TILLEY. 
[163] 



lime 

®toelftl) Da? 

Follow that which is good. — i Thessalonians 5:15. 

GOODNESS is the only orthodoxy that God 
cares one particle about, and every man that 
is living the Christ-life is orthodox — doctrine go 
to the winds. If you ask me if some representa- 
tions of truth are not more likely to produce this 
than others, Yes ; and therefore it is important that 
men should study to be true according to the test 
of Scripture. But so long as that blazing centre re- 
mains, " I am determined to know nothing but Christ, 
and Him crucified " — because He represented the 
God of love who suffered for all the universe and 
all it contains — so long as that is the grand ideal 
of life, it is nonsense for the man that does not 
pattern after that, to pattern after the intellectual 
elements of it, or the mere auxiliary institutions. 
But if he has both he is doubly blest, beecher. 

Tis only noble to be good. 

Count not thy life by calendars ; for years 
Shall pass by thee unheeded, whilst an hour — 
Some little fleeting hour, too quickly past — 
May stamp itself so deeply on thy brain, 
Thy latest years shall live upon its joy. 

KENNEDY. 

If the heart be right with God, He will weigh 
the rest in a balance of compassion. 

CARDINAL MANNING. 
[164] 



31xme 



Thou shalt abide for me. — Hosea 3: 3. 

" r I ^AKE my life ! " We have said it or sung it 
A before the Lord, it may be many times ; 
but if it were only whispered but once in His ear 
with full purpose of heart, should we not believe 
that He heard it? And if we know that He heard 
it, should we not believe that He has answered it, 
and fulfilled this, our heart's desire? For with 
Him hearing means heeding. Then why should 
we doubt that He did verily take our lives when we 
offered them — our bodies when we presented 
them ? Have we not been wronging His faithful- 
ness all this time by practically, even unconsciously, 
doubting whether the prayer ever reached Him? 
And if so, is it any wonder that we have not 
realized all the power and joy of full consecration? 
By some means or other He has to teach us to 
trust implicitly every step of the way. And so, if 
we do not really trust in this matter, He has had 
to let us find out our want of trust by withholding 
the sensible part of the blessing, and thus stirring 
us up to find out why it is withheld. 

An offered gift must be either accepted or re- 
fused. Can He have refused it when He has said, 
" Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out"? If not, then it must have been accepted. 



[165] 



3I«ne 



ifouiteeittl) a>ai? 



Your father knoweth what things ye have need of — S. Mat- 
thew 6 : 8. 

He Knows. 

HUSH, child ! doth not thy Heavenly Father 
know ? 
Love causelessly would never wound thee so. 
Sometimes the chastened lean upon His breast, 
And, sobbing, find themselves more closely pressed. 

Hereafter thou shalt better understand 
What discipline was needed from His hand. 
Be patient, then, and to His will resigned, 
And thou shalt be more Christ-like and refined. 

Implicit trust is thine, but He imparts 

His fulness only unto emptied hearts ; 

Who asks His love will in return receive 

Far more than tongue can tell, or thought conceive. 

Then give Him children, home, thy weight of care ; 
They are too heavy for thy strength to bear. 
The pitying Father will thy fears relieve, 
And bind the wounds His children must receive. 

MRS. ANNA M. HUNTLEY. 

My son, suffer me to do with thee what I please. 
I know what is expedient for thee. Thou thinkest 
as man ; thou judgest in many things as human 
affection persuadeth thee. 

THOMAS A KEMPIS. 
[166] 



3Iune 



iftftemttj H>ap 



Take my yoke tipon you and learn of me ; for I am meek 
and loivly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. — 
S. Matthew n : 29. 

CHRIST'S invitation is a call to begin life over 
again upon a new principle — upon His own 
principle. "Watch my way of doing things," He 
says. " Follow me. Take life as I take it. Be 
meek and lowly and you will find rest." . . . 
Christ's life outwardly was one of the most troubled 
lives ever lived : tempest and tumult, tumult and 
tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time 
till the worn body was laid in the grave. But the 
inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was 
always there. At any moment you might have 
gone to Him and found rest. And even when the 
bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets of 
Jerusalem, He turned to His disciples and offered 
them, as a last legacy, " My peace." Nothing ever 
for a moment broke the serenity of Christ's life 
on earth. 

There was nothing that the world could do to 
Him, that could ripple the surface of His spirit. 
Such living, as mere living, is altogether unique. 
It is the mind at leisure from itself. It is the 
perfect poise of the soul ; the stability of assured 
convictions; the eternal calm of an invulnerable 
faith; the repose of a heart set deep in God. 
It is the mood of the man who says, with Browning, 
" God's in His heaven, all's well with the world." 

HENRY DRUMMOND. 
[167] 



3|xme 



&>ixtm\tl) H>ap 



My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the strength of my 
heart, and my portion forever. — Psalm 73 : 26. 

THERE are heart sicknesses known to earth 
more real and distressing than any physical 
malady. Times there are in each human life 
when the sharp sword pierces to the very centre 
of the soul. Speaking after the manner of this 
world, the agony seems greater than can be borne. 
What then? Shall we sink down in despair? No. 
There is a better way. Summon thy soul to new 
courage, and patience. Say to thy soul within 
the thick shadows, even where no light enters, 
" My soul, wait thou only upon God." 

SPURGEON, 

Pain's furnace heat within me quivers, 
God's breath upon the flame doth blow, 

And all my heart in anguish shivers, 
And trembles at the fiery glow ; 

And yet I whisper : As God will ! 

And in His hottest fire hold still. 

Why should I murmur? For the sorrow 
Thus only longer lived would be ; 

Its end may come, and will, to-morrow, 
When God has done His work in me ; 

So I say, trusting : As God will ! 

And, trusting to the end, hold still. 

FROM THE GERMAN. 
[168] 



9!une 



&tbmtttiit\) Hr>ap 

Rules for Making Sunshine. 

WHEN you rise in the morning, form a reso- 
lution to make the day a happy one to a 
fellow-creature. It is easily done ; a left-off gar- 
ment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the 
sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving, 
trifles in themselves light as air, will do it, at least 
for the twenty-four hours ; and if you are young, 
depend upon it, it will tell when you are old ; and 
if you are old, it will send you gently and happily 
down the stream of human time to eternity. By 
the most simple arithmetical sum, look at the result; 
you send one person, only one, happily through 
the day, — that is three hundred and sixty-five 
during the course of the year ; and suppose you 
live only forty years after you commence that of 
medicine, you have made fourteen thousand six 
hundred human beings happy, at all events for 
a time. Now is not this simple ? It is too short 
for a sermon, too homely for ethics, too easily 
accomplished for you to say, " I would if I could." 

SYDNEY SMITH. 

Be like the bird, that, halting in her flight 

Awhile on boughs too slight, 
Feels them give way beneath her and yet sings, 
Knowing that she hath wings. 

VICTOR HUGO. 

[169J 



3Itme 



d;tgt)temtf) 2T>ap 



Be sober, be vigilant. — I Peter 5 : 8. 

The prudent man looketh well to his own going. — Proverbs 

14: 10. 

TT/ r "EEP at some work of usefulness. 

We forge our own fetters. 

To thine own self be true. shakspeare. 

The worst things are the perversion of good 
things. Abused intellectual gifts make the danger- 
ous villain ; abused sensibilities make the accom- 
plished tempter. f. w. Robertson. 

The lost days of my life until to-day, 

What were they ; could I see them on the street 
Lie as they fell ? Would they be ears of wheat 

Sown once for food but trodden into clay ? 

Or golden coins squander'd and still to pay ? 

Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet? 

Or such spilt waters as in dreams must cheat 
The undying throats of Hell, a thirst alway ? 

I do not see them here ; but after death 

God knows I know the faces I shall see, 
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath. 

" I am thyself, — what hast thou done to me? 

And I — and I — thyself " lo ! each one saith, 
And thou thyself to all — eternity. 

d. g. rossetti. 
[170] 



3fime 

0nettmtfy H>a£ 

Little children, keep yourselves fro7?i idols. — I John 5 : 21. 



T 



O make idols, and find them clay 
And to bewail their worship. Therefore pray. 

FELICIA HEMANS. 

Two Lost Heroes. 



And so Death took your hero, 
How kind to you was Fate ! 
For Death but crystallizes Life, 
And you need only wait. 
Death keeps him, dear, safe from all tainting touch, 
I, in your place, could scarcely weep so much. 

For, I, too, lost my hero. 

Would God it were by Death ! 
Would God that he were sainted, 
That I might spend my breath 
In praying to heaven to make my deeds so sweet 
That he might welcome me when we should meet ! 

Alas, alas, my hero ! 

How often we bow down, 
Deceived, to crown a coward king 
And deify a clown ! 
Pass on ; compared to me you know not grief. 
You have lost him, but I have lost Belief. 

ANNE REEVE ALDRICH. 
[171] 



3]une 

2M»cMtetl) SDa? 

For we must all appear before the jtidgment-seat of Christ ; 
that every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. — 
2 Corinthians 5 : 10. 

PERHAPS it may have been little thought of, 
in the days of careless unconcern, which you 
have spent hitherto ; but I call upon you to think 
of it now ; to lay it to heart ; and no longer delay 
when the high waters of death and judgments and 
eternity are thus set before you. It is my prayer 
to carry you beyond the regions of sight and sense, 
to the regions of faith, and to assure you in the 
name of Him who cannot lie, that as sure as 
the hour for the laying of the body in the grave 
comes, so surely will also come the hour of the 
spirit returning to Him who gave it. Yes, the day 
of final reckoning will come, and the appearance of 
the Son of God in the heaven, and the opening 
of the books will come, and the standing of men 
of all generations before the judgment-seat will 
come, and the solemn passing of that sentence 
which is to fix your destiny for eternity, will come. 

CHALMERS. 

And I know of the future judgment, 

How dreadful soe'er it be, 
That to sit alone with my conscience 

Will be judgment enough for me. 

[172] 



Hiwe 



We ought to love one another. — S. John 4:11. 

THE world is full of love that is not much 
better than no love at all. The fuel of the 
stove makes the room warm, but there are great 
piles of trees among the rocks on the top of the 
hill, where nobody can get them ; but these do 
not make anybody warm. Just so in family, love 
makes the parents and children, the brothers and 
sisters, happy ; but if they take care never to say 
a word about it, as if it were a crime, they will 
not be much happier than as if there was no love 
among them ; the house will seem cold even in 
summer. 

We long for tenderness like that which hung 

About us, lying on our mother's breast ; 
A selfish feeling that no pen or tongue 

Can praise aright, since silence sings its best. 
A love, as far removed from passion's heat 

As from the dullness of its dying fire ; 
A love to lean on when the failing feet 

Begin to totter and the eyes to tire. 
In youth's brief heyday hottest love we seek, 

The reddest rose we grasp — but when it dies 
God grant the latter blossoms, violets meek, 

May spring for us beneath life's autumn skies. 
God grant some loving one be near to bless 
Our weary way with simple tenderness. 

ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
[173] 



9I«ne 



He that riisteth in his riches shall fall ; but the righteous 

shall flourish as a branch. — Proverbs 1 1 : 28. 

Contentment zvith godliness is great gain. — 1 Timothy 6 : 6. 

They that will be rich fall into temptation. — 1 Timothy 6 : 9. 

I zvas a father to the poor. — Job 29 : 16. 

Both lozv and high, rich and poor together. — Psalm 49: 2. 

The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. — S. 

Mark 4: 19. 

The rich he hath sent empty away. — S. Luke 1 .-53. 



LET us learn to be content with what we have, 
with the place we have in life. Let us get 
rid of our false estimates, let us throw down the 
god Money from its pedestal, trample that sense- 
less idol under foot, set up all the higher ideals — 
a neat home, vines of our own planting, a few 
books full of the inspiration of genius, a few friends 
worthy of being loved, and able to love in turn ; 
a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain 
or remorse, a devotion to the right that will never 
swerve, a simple religion empty of all bigotry, full 
of trust and hope and love, and to such a philoso- 
phy this world will give up all the joy it has. 

Wealth has now all the respect paid to it which 
is due only to virtue and to talent, but we can see 
what estimate God puts upon it, since He often 
bestows it upon the meanest and most unworthy 
of all His creatures. swift. 

[174] 



31tme 



To every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have 
abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away 
even that which he hath. — S. Matthew 25 : 29. 

THE heart dwindles in contact with small things 
and narrow interests ; but when brought into 
harmony with great ideas, striving for great ends, 
with strong feeling excited and pouring upon the 
altar of success the most costly and precious sacri- 
fices, then the human heart, developing the germ 
of its immortal nature, rises to the height of the 
loftiest ideas, and enlarges to the compass of 
the broadest principles. george m. robeson. 

It was the martyr who saw " the heavens open 
and the Son of God standing on the right hand 
of God." It is when we have borne submissively 
some dreadful sorrow that we see the golden ladder 
reaching upward, as did Perpetua from the dark- 
ness of the dungeon ; when we have given our- 
selves to some great work and wrought it, by God's 
help and the inspiration of His spirit, triumphantly 
to the end, — that the vision is granted us. 

r. s. STORRS. 

Build up heroic lives, and all 

Be like a sheathen sabre, 
Ready to flash out at God's call, 

O chivalry of labor ! 

GERALD MASSEY. 
[175] 



31tme 



He is their strength. — Psalm 37 : 39. 

I WOULD present true sainthood to you as the 
strong chain of God's presence in humanity 
running down through all history, and making of 
it a unity, giving it a large and massive strength 
able to bear great things and to do great things 
too. The unity which the line of sainthood gives 
to history is the great point that shows its strength. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

But all through life I see a cross, 

Where sons of God yield up their breath ; 
There is no gain except by loss, 

There is no life except by death, 

There is no vision but by faith, 
No glory but by bearing shame, 
No justice but by taking blame ; 

And that Eternal Passion saith, 
Be emptied of glory and right and name. 

OLRIG GRANGE. 

The highest of us is but a sentry at his post. 

WHYTE MELVILLE. 

Dome up, O heaven ! yet higher o'er my head ! 
Back ! back, horizon ! widen out my world ! 
Rush in, O Infinite sea of the Unknown, 
For though He slay me I will trust in God. 

GEORGE MACDONALD. 
[176] 



3!wne 



®toent?=fiftlj a>ap 

These things I command you, that ye love one another. — 
S. John 15: 17. 

IS it worth while that we jostle a brother 
Bearing his load on the rough road of life ? 
Is it worth while that we jeer at each other 

In blackness of heart ? that we war to the knife ? 
God pity us all in our pitiful strife. 

God pity us all as we jostle each other ; 
God pardon us all for the triumph we feel 

When a fellow goes down 'neath his load on the 
heather, 
Pierced to the heart ; words are keener than steel, 
And mightier far for woe than for weal. 

Were it not well, in this brief little journey, 
On over the isthmus, down into the tide, 

We give him a fish, instead of a serpent, 
Ere folding the hands' to be or abide 
Forever and aye in the dust at his side ? 

Look at the roses saluting each other ; 

Look at the herds all at peace on the plain ; 

Man, and man only, makes war on his brother, 
And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain, 
Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain. 

Is it worth while that we battle to humble 
Some poor fellow-creature down in the dust ? 

God pity us all ! Time eftsoon will tumble 
All of us together, like leaves in a gust, 
Humbled, indeed, down into the dust. 

[177] JOAQUIN MILLER. 



9I«nc 



We knoiv that all things work together for good to them that 
love God. — Romans 8 : 28. 

THE crosses of the present moment always 
bring their own special grace and consequent 
comfort with them ; we see the hand of God in 
them when it is laid upon us. But the crosses 
of anxious foreboding are seen out of the dispen- 
sations of God ; we see them without grace to 
bear them ; we see them indeed through a faith- 
less spirit which banishes grace. So everything in 
them is bitter and unendurable ; all seems dark 
and helpless. Let us throw self aside; no more 
self-interest, and then God's will, unfolding every 
moment, will console us for all that He shall do 
around us, or within us. fenelon. 

Being perplexed, I say, 
Lord, make it right ! 
Night is as day to Thee, 

Darkness is light. 
I am afraid to touch 
Things that involve so much ; — 

My trembling hand may shake, 
My skilless hand may break ; 
Thine can make no mistake. 

ANNA WARNER. 

Should we feel at times disheartened and dis- 
couraged, a confiding thought, a simple movement 
of heart towards God will renew our powers. 

[i 7 8] FENELON. 



Slime 



Above all that we ask or think. — Ephesians 3 : 20. 

THEY were living to themselves ; self, with its 
hopes and promises and dreams, still had 
hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfil their 
prayers. They had asked for contrition, and He 
gave them sorrow ; they had asked for purity, and 
He sent them anguish ; they had asked to be 
meek, and He had broken their hearts ; they had 
asked to be dead in the world, and He slew all 
their living hopes ; they had asked to be made 
like unto Him, and He had placed them in a fur- 
nace till they should reflect His image ; they had 
asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He 
had reached it to them, it lacerated their hands. 

But if, impatient, thou let slip thy cross, 

Thou wilt not find it in this world again, 

Nor in another ; here, and here alone 

Is given thee to suffer for God's sake. 

In other worlds we shall more perfectly 

Serve Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him, 

Grow near and nearer Him with all delight ; 

But then we shall not any more be called 

To suffer, which is our appointment here. 

And while we suffer let us set our souls 

To suffer perfectly : since this alone, 

The suffering, which is this world's special grace, 

May here be perfected and left behind. 

UGO BASSI'S SERMON IN THE HOSPITAL. 
[179] 



3]ime 



Oh that I might have my request ; and that God wou/d grant 
me the thing that I long for ! — Job 6 : 8. 

YEA, leave it with Him, 
The lilies all do, 

And they grow — 

They grow in the rain, 

And they grow in the dew — 

Yes, they grow. 

They grow in the darkness, all hid in the night ; 

They grow in the sunshine, revealed by the light, 

Still they grow. 

They ask not your planting, 

They need not your care 

As they grow. 
Dropped down in the valley, 
The field anywhere — 

There they grow. 
They grow in their beauty, arrayed in pure white, 
They grow clothed in glory, by heaven's own light, 
Sweetly grow. 

Yea, leave it with Him ; 

'Tis more dear to His heart 

You will know 
Than the lilies that bloom, 
Or the flowers that start 
'Neath the snow. 
What you need, all you need, if you ask it in prayer, 
You can leave it with Him, for you are His care, 
You, you know. 

[180] 



3Iime 



That your joy may be full. — I John 1 6 : 24. 

MANY objects in this earth are what things in 
heaven will be like. Meadows we shall lie 
down in ; and there will be the murmur in our ears 
of the river of life ; and over us there will be 
a tree of life, and through the leaves of it some 
rays of the light of God will shine upon us in that 
blessed shade ; and we shall eat of the fruit of the 
tree, because it is for the healing of the nations. 
And God will be all in all. He will be in the river 
of life, flowing alongside of us, and in the light 
that shines through it ; and He will be in us, 
ourselves. He will be everlasting growth of spirit 
in us, and He will be peace and joy. Ay, there 
will be then one soul of joy in us and in God. 
We in Him, He will be in us. We shall be nerves 
in His infinite blessedness, and forever be thrilled 
with delight. mountford. 

Open our eyes, thou Son of life and gladness, 

That we may see that glorious world of Thine ! 
It shines for us in vain, while drooping sadness 
Enfolds us here like mist ; come, Power benign, 
Touch our chilled hearts with vernal smile, 
Our wintry course do Thou beguile. 
Nor by the wayside ruins let us mourn, 
Who have th' eternal towers for our appointed bourn. 

KEBLE. 

[181] 



3Iunc 



Wtyittitty a>ai? 



Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before 
a fall. — Proverbs 16 : 18. 

PRIDE slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind 
is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. 
A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he 
never thinks he gets as much as he deserves. 
When any mercy falls, he says, " Yes, but it ought 
to be more. It is only manna as large as a cori- 
ander seed, whereas it ought to be like a baker's 
loaf." How base a pool God's mercies fall into, 
when they plash down into such a heart as that ! 
If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me 
there were particles of iron in it, I might look 
for them with my eyes, and search for them with 
my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them ; 
but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, 
and how would it draw to itself the almost invisi- 
ble particles, by the mere power of attraction ! 
The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, 
discovers no mercies ; but let the thankful heart 
sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds 
the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly 
blessings ; only the iron in God's sand is gold. 

BEECHER. 

Ah ! languid hand, safe in some scented glove, 
Give alms of bread — give truer alms of love — 
To other hands whose stains and scars you scorn ! 

MRS. S. M. B. PIATT. 

'[182] 




0\>Q,3 



nd plea5U 



9 

The end of that man is peace. — Psalm 37 : 37. 

Peace. 

I STOOD in a crowd on pleasure bent, 
And heard the ripple of laughter and song ; 
But the song was stilled ere night was spent, 
And the laughter sank and died ere long. 
Mirth and melody, fume and fret 
Were there ; but Peace I found not yet. 

Then I saw a cottage where want and care 

Had entered every day for years, 
And a woman was there, whose face was fair, 

Tho' scarred by pain and marked by tears — 
A face that was fair with the light of faith, 
And a love that was stronger still than death. 

I stood at the open door, and heard 
A voice like an angel's, sweet and low : 

" Who doeth my will and keepeth my Word, 
Nor grief nor pain at last shall know." 

And the woman answered, with dying breath, 

"True, Lord !" Then I knew there was Peace in 
Death. 

J. T. BURTON WOLLASTON. 
[183] 



g>etonD SPag 

The law of kindness. — Proverbs 31 : 26. 

I WAS once present at the funeral service of a 
man who was held in high esteem in his com- 
munity. 

He had served terms in the state legislature 
both as representative and senator, and had made a 
record of unblemished honor. He was a deacon, 
and trustee and Sunday-school superintendent in 
his church, and had always been influential in all 
church and philanthropic work. But the thing for 
which he will be most lovingly remembered was his 
tenderness of heart and the genius he had for doing 
little things to brighten the lives of others. As 
illustrative of this spirit and habit, an incident 
occurred at his church one Sabbath morning. A 
woman came to the service, evidently a stranger. 

Mr. M observed her and divined her feeling 

of loneliness, and when he passed down the aisle 
with a collection basket, he quietly unpinned a 
rose which he wore upon his coat and dropped it in 
the lonesome woman's lap. Instantly the whole 
atmosphere of the church changed to that woman, 
the sense of strangeness vanished, she felt herself 
among friends, and her heart entered warmly into 
all the service that followed. It takes a great soul 
to do a little thing like that. j. t. mcfarland. 

The kindly deeds which their own balm impart, 
These are not lost. 

[184] 



31ul? 



®l)irD Dap 



While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things 
that are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal ; 
but the things which are not seen are eternal. — 2 Corin- 
thians 4: 18. 

If in this life only zue have hope in Christ, we are of all men 
most miserable. — 1 Corinthians 15 : 19. 



A Blind Spinner. 

LIKE a blind spinner in the sun, 
I tread my days ; 
I know that all the threads will run 

Appointed ways. 
I know each day will bring its task, 
And, being blind, no more I ask. 

I do not know the use or name 

Of what I spin ; 
I only know that some one came 

And laid within 
My hand the thread, and said, " Since you 
Are blind, but one thing you can do." 

I know not why, but I am sure 

That tint and place, 
In some great fabric to endure, 

Past time and race, 
My threads will have ; so from the first, 
Though blind, I never felt accurst. 

HELEN HUNT JACKSON. 
[I8 5 ] 



%m 



jfourti) 2Da^ 



Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to 
inherit the land. — Psalm 37 : 34. 

OH, keep your armor bright, 
Sons of those mighty dead, 
And guard ye well the right, 

For which such blood was shed ! 
Your starry flag should only wave 
O'er freedom's home, or o'er your grave. 

BOTTA. 

It is our duty to celebrate this day, not merely by 
idle pomp and vain display, but in a manner wor- 
thy of the great men and the great principles with 
which it is associated, by high purposes and mag- 
nanimous resolves, by deeper gratitude and a loftier 
faith. The character of man is always more 
severely tried by the passive than the active vir- 
tues. The same dignity of mind and elevation of 
character which gave our fathers the power to do, 
gave them also the power to bear and suffer. Their 
noble example demands from us to watch for the 
overshadowing presence of that spirit of the Lord, 
without which there is no true liberty. 

Faith of our fathers ! Good men's prayers 
Shall win our country all to thee ; 

And through the truth that comes from God 
Our land shall then indeed be free. 

Faith of our fathers ! Holy faith ! 

We will be true to thee till death ! 
[186] 






3Jul? 



jfiftl) SDap 

Pray without ceasing. — I Thessalonians 5:17. 



M 



ORE things are wrought by prayer than this 
world dreams of. 



Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is 
laying hold of His highest willingness. 

ARCHBISHOP TRENCH. 

I have lived to thank God that all my prayers 
have not been answered. jean ingelow. 

Now, soul, be very still and go apart. 

Fly to thy inmost citadel, and be thou still. 
Dost thou not know the trembling, shrinking heart 

That feels the shadow of some coming ill? 
Ah ! no. Tis not delusion ; some kind care 
Touches thee, soul, and whispers thee, " Beware ! " 

So, soul, come with me, and be sure we'll find 
A sanctuary, wherein dwells faith and prayer ; 

Then, if misfortune come, cast doubt behind ; 
We shall have strength to fight or strength to bear ; 

No prisoners of evil fate are we, 

For in our breast we carry Hopeful's key. 

MARY A. BARR. 

It is an introspection on which all religion has 
been built, man going into himself, and seeing the 
struggle within him, and thence getting self-knowl- 
edge, and thence knowledge of God. mozley. 

[187] 



mv 



Sing unto him a new song. — Psalm ^Z '- 3- 

THE power of a Christian hymn has been one 
of the great beneficent forces in human life. 
It is almost impossible to overestimate it. Litera- 
ture and art and oratory influence the emotions and 
conduct of man. Noble poetry haunts and inspires 
us. But in the trying crises of life — in tempta- 
tion, or misfortune, or sickness, or sorrow, or even 
death — myriads of souls have been comforted and 
helped by the sustaining influence of Christian song. 



Two Songs. 

A singer sang a song of tears, 

And the great world heard and wept ; 

For he sang of the sorrows of the fleeting years 
And the hopes which the dead past kept ; 

And souls in anguish their burdens bore, 

And the world was sadder than before. 

A singer sang a song of cheer, 

And the great world listened and smiled ; 
For he sang of the love of a Father dear 

And the trust of a little child ; 
And souls that before had forgotten to pray 
Looked up and went singing along the way. 



[1883 



%nlv 



g>efoOTtf) 2Da^ 



Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think jiot the Son 
of man cometh. — S. Matthew 24 : 44. 



T 



HE vain regret that steals above the wreck of 
squandered hours. whittier. 



The Foolish Virgin. 

" The midnight comes on and my lamp unfilled ! ' 
(Black and stormy the night wanes on.) 

" Sisters, help ! ere my hope be killed ; 

Give of your store, that my lamp be filled." 
(The Bridegroom into the House hath gone.) 

"Sisters, help ! " They have closed the door. 

(Black and stormy the night wanes on.) 
Naught they give of their brimming store, 
Each one watching the lamp she bore. 

(The Bridegroom into the House hath gone.) 

" I will knock, though the door be closed." 
(Black and stormy the night wanes on.) 

" Lord, thy handmaid waits. Unclose ! 

Around me night like a river flows." 

(The Bridegroom into the House hath gone.) 

"Who knocks so late from the darkened East?" 

(Black and stormy the night wanes on.) 
" Depart ! I know nor greater nor least, 
Who brings no light to the marriage feast." 
(The Bridegroom into the House hath gone.) 

MARIE B. WILLIAMS. 
[189] 



%va$ 



Ctgljtt) HDap 



A people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high 
places of the field. — Judges 5:18. 

COME, Howard, from the gloom of the prison 
and the taint of the lazar-house, and show us 
what philanthropy can do when imbued with the 
spirit of Jesus ; come, Eliot, from the thick forest 
where the red man listens to the Word of Life; 
come, Perm, from the sweet counsel and weapon- 
less victory, and show us what Christian love can 
accomplish with the rudest barbarians and the 
fiercest hearts. Come, Raikes, from thy labors 
with the ignorant and the poor and show us with 
what an eye this faith regards the lowest and the 
least of our race ; and how diligently it labors for 
the plastic soul that is to course the ages of immor- 
tality. And ye, who are a great number, ye name- 
less ones, who have done good in your narrow 
spheres, content to forego renown on earth, and 
seeking your reward on high — come and tell us 
how kindly a spirit, how lofty a purpose, or how 
strong a courage the religion ye professed can 
breathe into the poor, the humble, and the weak. 
Go forth, then, Spirit of Christianity, to thy great 
work of Reform ! The past bears witness to thee 
in the blood of thy martyrs, and the ashes of 
thy saints and heroes ; the present is hopeful be- 
cause of thee ; the future shall acknowledge thy 
omnipotence. chapin. 

[190] 



%m 



$iint\) 2Dap 



Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble : . . . thou 
wilt cause thine ear to hear. — Psalm 10 : 17. 

" T EARN to entwine with prayers the small 
1 v cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants 
of daily life. Whatever affects you — be it a 
changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a 
wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a sor- 
row you cannot disclose — turn it into prayer, and 
send it up to God. Disclosures you may not make 
to man you can make to the Lord. Only give your- 
self to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls 
for it." 

He Knows. 

He knows it all at set of sun, 

The little errands I have run, 
How hard I tried and where I failed, 

Where dreadful wrong and sin prevailed ; 
He knows the burden and the cross,. 

The heavy trial and the loss 
That met me early on the way, 

And lingered still at close of day. 
He knows it all — how tired I grew 

When pressing duties that I knew 
Were mine, I left in part undone, 

And how I grieved at set of sun, 
And could not rest till His sweet tone 

Of calming love had gently shown 
Me that He did not blame — He knew 

That I had tried my best to do. 
[191] 



miv 



Wcntfy ww 



The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. 
Ecclesiastes 9: u. 

I SAW them start, an eager throng, 
All young and strong and fleet ; 
Joy lighted up their beaming eyes, 

Hope sped their flying feet. 
And one among them so excelled 
In courage, strength, and grace, 
That all men gazed and smiled and cried : 
" The winner of the race ! " 

But ah, what folly ! See, he stops 

To raise a fallen child, 
To place it out of danger's way 

With kiss and warning mild. 
A fainting comrade claims his care, 

Once more he turns aside ; 
Then stays his strong, young steps to be 

A feeble woman's guide. 

The race is o'er. 'Mid shouts and cheers 

I saw the victors crowned ; 
Some wore fame's laurels, some love's flowers, 

Some brows with gold were bound. 
But all unknown, unheeded, stood — 

Heaven's light upon his face — 
With empty hands and uncrowned head, 

The winner of the race. 

SUSAN MARR SPAULDING. 
[192] 



%m 



dftetomtlj sr>ap 



It is God that girdeth me zvith strength and maketh my way 
perfect. — Psalm 18 : 32. 

THE Christian learns by frequent experience 
that he cannot live without prayer. And so 
he prays daily and hourly, not as a duty, but as a 
necessity, — prays when it is necessary, be it sel- 
dom or often, — prays till the need is supplied, till 
the hunger has ceased, till the empty soul is filled, 
till his weakness has been made strength, till his 
weariness has changed to inward rest. And then, 
having prayed from necessity, he prays again spon- 
taneously, the prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude, 
the acknowledgment of his new life. 

Silent the starry sails go down 

Upon the western sea ; 
Silent they bear away our cares 

And leave us glad and free ; 
So calm each overburdened heart, 

So still each burning chord, 
So glad to sink down at His feet, 

And listen to the Lord. 

AGNES E. MITCHELL. 

No soul can preserve its strength or the bloom 
of its consecration without lonely musing and silent 
prayer ; and the greatness of this necessity is in 
proportion to the greatness of the soul. 

FARRAR. 

[193] 



mv 



®toflftl) 2Da? 



A nezv commandment I give unto you, That ye love one 
another, as I have loved you. — S. John 13 : 34. 

THE love of Christ is not an absorbing, but a 
radiating love. The more we love Him, the 
more we shall most certainly love others. Some have 
not much natural power of loving, but the love of 
Christ will strengthen it. Some have had the 
springs of love dried up by some terrible earth- 
quake. They will find " fresh springs " in Jesus, 
and the gentle flow will be purer and deeper than 
the old torrent could ever bear. Some have spent 
it all on their God-given dear ones. Now He is 
come whose right it is ; and yet in the fullest 
resumption of that right, He is so gracious that He 
puts back an even larger measure of the old love 
into our hand, sanctified with His own love, and 
energized with His own blessing, and strengthened 
with His new commandment, "That ye love one 
another, as I have loved you." havergal. 

Oh, sweet command, that goes so far beyond 
The mightiest impulse of the tenderest heart ! 
A bare permission had been much ; but He 
Who knows our yearnings and our fearfulness, 
Chose graciously to bid us do the thing 
That makes our earthly happiness, 
A limit that we need not fear to pass, 
Because we cannot. Oh, the breadth and length, 
And depth and height of love thatpasseth knowledge ; 
Yet Jesus said, " As I have loved you." 
[194] 



{Cijuteenttj Hoa^ 

The Lord knoweth the days of the upright : and their in- 
heritance shall be for ever. — Psalm 37 : 18. 

HAVE they days of affliction? The Lord 
knows them. Have they days of danger? 
He knows them, and will be a refuge and defence 
in them. Have they days of duty? He knows 
them, and will furnish the strength and the help 
they require. Have they days of inaction, when 
they are laid aside from their work by accident 
or disease ? He knows them. Have they days of 
privation when they are denied the ordinances 
of the church? He knows them, and will follow 
His people when they cannot follow Him, and be 
a little sanctuary to them in their losses. Have 
they days of feebleness and of old age, in which 
their strength is fled, and their senses fail? He 
knows them, and says, " I remember thee, the 
kindness of thy youth. Even to old age I am 
He, and to hoary hairs will I bear and carry you." 

WILLIAM JAY. 

Among so many, can He care? 

Can special love be everywhere ? 

A myriad homes, — a myriad ways, — 

And God's eye over every place ? 

I asked : my soul bethought of this : — 

In just that very place of His 

Where He hath put and keepeth you, 

God hath no other thing to do ! 

MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY. 

[195] 



%w 



jfourtemti) SDap 



Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, and knozu 
my thoughts : and see if there be any wicked zuay in me. — 
Psalm 139:23-24. 

" OHALL not God search this out? for He 
vZ5 knoweth the secrets of my heart." The 
greatness of guilt arises chiefly from the greatness 
of God's goodness towards us, from the favors, 
the lights and instruction that we have received 
from Him. In order to know your own guilt, 
you must consider your own circumstances, your 
health, your sickness, your youth or age, your 
special duties, the happiness of your education, 
the degree of light and instruction you have re- 
ceived, the admonition that you have had, the 
resolutions of amendment that you have so often 
broken, and the checks of conscience that you 
have disregarded. It is from this examination 
that each one must learn the measure and great- 
ness of his own guilt. Frequent reflection will 
cause us to seek for pardon and strength from God. 

Deep regret for follies past, 

Talents wasted, time misspent, — 
Hearts debased by worldly cares, 

Thankless for the blessings lent ; — 
These and every secret fault, 

Filled with grief and shame, we own ; 
Humbled at Thy feet we bow, 

Seeking strength from Thee alone. 
[196] 



miv 



jfittttntf) 2Dap 

Cleanse vie from secret faults. — Psalm 19: 12. 

LORD, have compassion upon us. Chastise us. 
By any means clear the guilt that is in us. 
Make us to feel the sinfulness of sin, but yet, 
have compassion, and chastise us because Thou 

lovest US ! BEECHER. 

If, every time conscience was wronged, it sighed, 
and every time reason was perverted, it uttered 
complaints, no one could live for the moaning 
which would fill his soul. 

Strangled. 

There is a legend in some Spanish book 
About a noisy reveller who, at night, 
Returning home with others, saw a light 

Shine from a window, and climbed up to look 

And saw within the room hanged to a hook 
His own self-strangled self, grim, rigid, white, 
And who, struck sober by that livid sight, 

Feasting his eyes, in tongue-tied terror shook. 

Has any man a fancy to peep in 

And see, as through a window in the past, 

His noble self self-choked with toils of sin, 

Or sloth or folly? Round the throat whipped 
fast 

The nooses give the face a stiffened grin. 

'Tis but thyself. Look well. Why be aghast? 

EUGENE LEE HAMILTON. 

[197] 



3I«ir 



&ixttmt\) HDap 

What time I am afraid I will call on thee. — Psalm 56 : 3. 
JE have all taken a sorrow or a perplexity 



w 



out into the noontide or the midnight and 
felt its morbid bitterness drawn out of it, and 
a great peace descend and fill it from the depth 
of the majesty under whose arch we stood. . . . 
The sweet and solemn influence which comes to 
you out of the noontide or the midnight sky does 
not take away your pain, but it takes out of it its 
bitterness. It lifts it to a higher peace. It says, 
"Be still and wait." It gives the reason power 
and leave and time to work. It gathers the partial 
into the embrace of the universal. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

Who of us has not bowed his will to some 
supreme law, accepted some obedience as the 
atmosphere in which his life must live, and found 
that his mind's darkness at once turned to light, 
and that many a hard question found its answer? 
Who has not sometimes seemed to see it all as 
clear as daylight, that not by the sharpening of the 
intellect to supernatural acuteness, but by the sub- 
mission of the nature to its true authority, man 
was at last to conquer truth ; that not by agonizing 
struggles over contradictory evidence, but by the 
harmony with Him in whom the answers to all 
our doubts are folded, a harmony with Him brought 
by obedience to Him, our doubts must be en- 
lightened? PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

[198] 



91ul? 



&tbzntztnt\) SDap 

The work of our hands establish thou it. — Psalm 90: 17. 
MLENTLY the work of our lives goes on. 



S 1 



It proceeds without intermission, and all that 
has been done is the under-structure for that which 
is to be done. Young man and maiden, take heed 
to the work of your hands. That which you are 
doing is imperishable. You do not leave it behind 
you because you forget it. It passes away from 
you apparently, but it does not pass away in 
reality. Every stroke, every single element abides, 
and there is nothing that grows so fast as character. 

The Work of Our Hands. 
"The work of our hands, establish Thou it." 

So often with thoughtless lips we pray ; 

But He who sits in the heavens shall say, 
" Is the work of thy hands so fair and fit, 

That ye dare so pray ? 

" Is it strong as the wonderful bonds that knit 
All truth as one ? Is it pure as snow ? 
As gracious and sweet as the winds that blow ? 

As true as the stars that are nightly lit 
For the world below? " 

Softly we answer : " Lord, make it fit, 
The work of our hands, that so we may 
Lift our voices and dare to pray, 

The work of our hands, establish Thou it, 
Forever and aye. 

CARLOTTA PERRY. 
[199] 



%nly 



€i$)tm\tl) 2Dap 

Lord, teach us to pray. — S. Luke 2:1. 

IT is not only in the beginning of a devotional 
life that assistance is required. " Likewise 
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities," says the 
apostle ; " for we know not what we should pray 
for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh inter- 
cession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered." And where is the Christian who would 
not often have given over the exercise, under 
a sense of his imperfections and weaknesses, but 
for the hope of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus 
Christ ; and the promise, " If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts to your children, 
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give 
the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" This 
has revived him again, and out of weakness he 
has been made strong, and delighted himself in 
the Almighty. Happy they who, by the great 
Teacher, are thus taught to pray. william jay. 

Prayer is the breath of God in man, 

Returning whence it came ; 
Love is the sacred fire within, 

And prayer the rising flame. 

The humble suppliant cannot fail 

To have his wants supplied, 
Since He for sinners intercedes, 

Who once for sinners died. 

BENJAMIN BEDDOME. 
[200] 



3!ul? 



0nttttnt\) 2Dap 

Go tvork in my vineyard. — S. Matthew 21 : 28. 

"\I 7HY stand ye here idle? " when dewy and 

VV bright, 

The vine's purple clusters wave in the morn's light ; 
"Why stand ye here idle?" when noon's golden 

glare 
Falls over the vineyard — ripe, waiting and fair. 
" Why stand ye here idle ? " when broad fields in view 
Are white for the harvest, and reapers are few. 
" Why stand ye here idle still, all the day long," 
While the sunset is near and the glad harvest song ? 

" Go work in the vineyard ! to-day must thou share 
The heat and the burden my laborers bear." 
Thus the voice of the Master for each of us calls, 
Though sealed be our ears when the pleading voice 

falls. MARY A. LEAVITT. 

Oh, if every one could put his arms round one 
other one, and save him from perdition, it would 
be worth a lifetime of exertion. If you can lie 
down on the bed of death, and ask, of what avail 
has been my living? and only one redeemed by 
your agency, only one shall stand before you, only 
one upon whom you can fix your dying eyes, and 
feel, " God has given me that as a seal to my 
ministry," oh, it were enough ! It were enough ! 
For the redemption of one human soul is worth 
... a lifetime of self-denial. john b. gough. 

[201] 



Little children, keep yourselves from idols. — S. John 5 : 21. 

"^\H, not by loving less, but loving more. 

\^J It is not that we love our precious ones 
Too much, but God too little. As the lamp 
A miner bears upon his shadowed brow 
Is only dazzling in the grimy dark, 
And has no glare against the summer sky, 
So, light the tiny torch of our best love 
In the great sunshine of the love of God, 
And, though full fed and fanned, it casts no shade 
And dazzles not, o'erflowed with mightier light." 

There is no love so deep and wide as that which 
is kept for Jesus. It flows both fuller and farther 
when it flows only through Him. Then, too, it 
will be a power for Him. It will always be un- 
consciously working for Him. In drawing others 
to ourselves by it, we shall necessarily be drawing 
them nearer to the fountain of our love, never 
drawing them away from it. It is the great magnet 
of His love which alone can draw any heart to 
Him ; but when our own are thoroughly yielded 
to its mighty influence, they will be so magnetized 
that He will condescend to use them in this way. 

HAVERGAL. 

Idols of dust, 
Idols of clay, 

Crumble and fall, — 
Vanish for aye. 
[202] 



%W 



These all continued with one accord in prayer and suppli- 
cation. — Acts I : 14. 

PUBLIC devotion has claims upon us. God 
has commanded us not to forsake the assem- 
bling of ourselves together as the manner of some 
is ; and He has said, " In all places where I record 
my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless 
thee." The worship of the sanctuary enlivens 
our feelings, endears us to each other, and keeps 
the distinctions of life from becoming excessive. 
There the rich and the poor meet together, and 
seek and serve a Being with whom there is no 
respect of persons. Let me always avail myself 
of the privilege, and be glad when they say unto 
me, " Let us go up into the house of the Lord." 

With One Accord. 
" With one accord ! " The day had brought 
Its vexing cares ; its anxious thought ; 
With labor worn, with doubts perplexed, 
With toils and troubles sorely vexed ; 
When evening brought its hour of prayer, 
With sweet accord we gathered there. 

" The door was shut ! " " With one accord " 
We kneeled before our risen Lord ; . 
Some needed strength • some needed peace ; 
Some prayed that wrongs and woes might cease ; 
All felt the need of humble prayer, 
All needed Christ, and Christ was there. 
[203] 



Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed. — Jeremiah 
51:29. 

A MAN cannot choose his own life. He can- 
not say : " I will take existence lightly, and 
keep out of the way of the wretched, mistaken, 
energetic creatures, who fight so heartily in the 
great battle." He cannot say : " I will stop in 
the tents while the strife is fought, and laugh at 
the fools who are trampled down in the useless 
struggle." He cannot do this. He can only do, 
humbly and fearfully, that which the Maker who 
created him has appointed for him to do. If he 
has a battle to fight, let him fight it faithfully. But 
woe betide him if he skulks when his name is 
called in the mighty muster-roll ! woe betide him 
if he hides in the tents when the tocsin summons 
him to the scene of war ! m. e. braddon. 

Exactly thus men stand to God : 

I with my courier, God with me. Just so 

I have His bidding to perform ; but mind 
And body, all of me, though made and meant 
For that sole service, must consult, contest 
With my own self and nobody beside, 
How to effect the same : God helps not else. 

ROBERT BROWNING. 



[204] 



%m 



Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
on thee. — Isaiah 26 : 3. 

A TRUE Christian, that hath power over his 
own will, may live nobly and happily, and 
enjoy a clear heaven within the serenity of his own 
mind perpetually. 

He can look about him, and with an even and 
indifferent mind behold the world either to smile 
or frown upon him ; neither will he abate of the 
least of his contentment for all the ill and unkind 
usage he meets withal in this life. He that hath 
got the mastery over his own will feels no violence 
from without, finds no contests within ; and when 
God calls for him out of this state of mortality, 
he finds in himself a power to lay down his own 

life. DR. JOHN SMITH. 

In heavenly love abiding 

No change my heart shall fear, 
And safe is such confiding, 

For nothing changes here : 
The storm may roar without me, 

My heart may low be laid, 
But God is round about me, 

And can I be dismayed? 
His wisdom ever waketh, 

His sight is never dim, 
He knows the way He taketh, 

And I will walk with Him. 

WARING. 

[205] 



None of them that trust in him shall be desolate. — Psalm 
34 : 22. 

WE cannot always be doing a great work, but 
we can always be doing something that 
belongs to our condition. To be silent, to suffer, 
to pray when we cannot act, is acceptable to God. 
A disappointment, a contradiction, a harsh word, 
an annoyance, a wrong received and endured as 
in His presence, is worth more than a long prayer ; 
and we do not lose time if we bear its loss with 
gentleness and patience, provided the loss was 
inevitable, and was not caused by our own fault. 

FENELON. 

Trust. 
Though the rain may fall and the wind be blowing, 

And cold and chill is the wintry blast, 
Though the cloudy sky is still cloudier growing, 

And the dead leaves tell that summer has passed, 
My face I hold to the stormy heaven, 

My heart is as calm as the summer sea, 
Glad to receive what my God has given, 
Whate'er it be. 

If I trust Him once I must trust Him ever, 

And His way is best though I stand or fall. 
Through wind and storm He will leave me never ; 
He sends it all. 

MRS. FRANK TAYLOR. 
[206] 



Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, 
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. — Hebrews 13 : 5. 

MY future will not copy fair the past 
On any leaf but heaven's. Be fully done, 
Supernal Will ! I would not fain be one 
Who, satisfying thirst and breaking fast 
Upon the fulness of the heart, at last 
Says no grace after meat. My wine has run 
Indeed out of my cup, and there is none 
To gather up the bread of my repast, 
Scattered and trampled — yet I find some good 
In earth's green herbs, and streams that bubble up 
Clear from the darkling ground — content until 
I sit with angels before better food. 
Dear Christ ! when Thy new vintage fills my cup 
This hand shall shake no more, nor that wine spill. 

E. B. BROWNING. 

Contentment is not to be caught by long and 
foreign chases: he is likliest to find it who sits at 
home and duly contemplates those blessings which 
God has placed within his reach. 

Each pilgrim, weary of a changing life, 

Who ceases battling with its constant strife ; 
Who turns to Him by whom all things are made, 

Shall be contented still and unafraid. 
Be content ; God's promise covers both present 
and future needs. " My cup" for the present, 
my "inheritance" for the future, "my lot" for all 
conditions and places. 

[207] 



Sim? 



A zvounded spirit who can bear? — Proverbs 18: 14. 

IN how many cases the hasty temper flashes out, 
and does its work with the precision and the 
pain of the swift stiletto ! Singularly enough, the 
hasty word oftenest wounds those we love. We 
know the weak points in the armor of our friend ; 
we are aware of his caprices, and are ordinarily 
tender and compassionate even of his vanities ; 
but there dawns a day when it is written in the 
book of fate that we shall be as cruel as loving. 
We are cold, or tired, or hungry. So politeness 
fails us, fortitude is vanished, and we say that 
which we repent in sackcloth and ashes. But 
though the hasty word may be forgiven, it is not 
forgotten. It has flawed the crystal of our friend- 
ship; there is a shadowy scar on the gleaming 
surface. harper's bazar. 

We have careful thought for the stranger, 
And smiles for the sometime guest, 
But oft for " our own " 
The bitter tone, 
Though we love our own the best. 
Ah ! lip with the curve impatient ; 
Ah ! brow with that look of scorn, 
'Twere a cruel fate 
Were the night too late 
To undo the work of the morn. 

MARGARET SANGSTER. 

[208] 



9!«lr 



tEtomt^sebentl) Dap 

/, the Lord, search the heart ; I try the reins, even to give 
every man according to his tvays, and according to the fruit 
of his doings. — Jeremiah 17 : 10. 

HAVE patience with all things, but chiefly 
have patience with yourself. Do not lose 
courage in considering your own imperfections, 
but instantly set about remedying them ; every 
day begin the task anew. The best way of at- 
taining to Christian perfection is to be aware 
that you have not yet reached it ; but never be 
weary of recommencing. Whosoever is overcome 
with a sense of his own faults, will not be able to 
subdue them. 

Be thou faithful, watch and pray ; 

Murmur not, nor dare repine, 
If thy labor seems in vain, 

From the dawn to day's decline. 

Where the foot of sin has trod, 
There, unwearied, do thou toil ; 

Still renew with ready zeal 
Effort to reclaim the soil. 

There are briars besetting every path, 

That call for patient care, 
There's a cross in every lot 

And an earnest need for prayer ; 
But the heart that leans on Thee 

Is happy everywhere. waring. 

[209] 



3Jui? 



Watching . . . with all perseverance. — Ephesians 6 : 18. 
Faint, yet pursuing. — Judges 8 : 4. 

IF, losing all that makes life smooth and sunny, 
one still retains that which is more than houses 
or lands, or prosperity or friends ; if, under sickness 
or temptation, when heart and flesh fail, one still 
follows on after God, ignoring the bitterness of 
life, and taking up its burdens " for Christ's sake," 
be sure that that courage and that support come 
from a vital religion. 

Because I hold it sinful to despond, 
And will not let the bitterness of life 

Bind me with burning tears, but look beyond 
Its tumult and its strife ; 

Because I lift my head above the mist 

Where the sun shines and the broad breezes blow. 

By every ray and every raindrop kissed 
That God's love doth bestow, — 

Think you I find no bitterness at all ? 

No burden to be borne, like Christians' pack? 
Think you there are no ready tears to fall 

Because I keep them back? 

And in each one of these rebellious tears 

Kept bravely back He makes a rainbow shine. 

Grateful, I take His slightest gift : no fears 
Nor any doubts are mine. celia thaxter. 

[210] 



®tonttg=ttmtl) H>a? 

.//<? j/ja // flourish like the palm tree : he shall grow like 
a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house 
of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. — 
Psalm 92: 12, 13. 

THE wind that blows can never kill 
The tree God plants ; 
It bloweth east, it bloweth west, 
The tender leaves have little rest, 
But any wind that blows is best. 

The tree God plants 
Strikes deeper root, grows higher still, 
Spreads wider boughs, for God's good will 
Meets all its wants. h. c. bunner. 

" He shall flourish like the palm tree : he shall 
grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Of the wicked 
the Saviour had said just before, "When the 
wicked spring as the grass, and when all the 
workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they 
shall be destroyed forever." They flourish as the 
grass, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into 
the oven. What a contrast with the weakness 
and destiny of grass are the palm tree and cedar 
in Lebanon. They are evergreen. How beauti- 
fully, how firmly, how largely they grow. How 
strong and lofty is the cedar. How upright and 
majestic and tall is the palm tree. "Those that 
be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish 
in the courts of our God, and shall bring forth 
fruit in their old age." 

[211] 



%m 



Wqittitfy SPa^ 



Seest thou a man diligent in business? He shall stand before 
kings. — Proverbs 22 : 29. 



D 



ILIGENCE and perseverance, in the right 
paths of life, bring God's blessings with them. 

Perseverance. 

The proudest motto for the young ! 

Write it in lines of gold 
Upon thy heart, and in thy mind 

The stirring words unfold ; 
And in misfortune's dreary hour 

Or fortune's prosperous gale, 
Twill have a holy, cheering power, 

" There's no such word as fail ! " 

MRS. NEAL. 

Perseverance will not only make friends, but it 
will make favorable circumstances. It will change 
the face of all things around us ; clouds of dark- 
ness, evil forebodings, opposition, enemies, barriers 
of every kind, will vanish before a stout heart and 
resolute energy of soul. The Alps stood between 
Napoleon and Italy which he desired to conquer. 
He scaled the mountain and descended upon 
his prey. His startling descent more than half 
conquered the country. He forced every circum- 
stance into his favor. His greatest barrier proved 
a sure means of victory. So a barrier once scaled 
affords a vantage-ground for our future efforts. 

[212] 



With cheerfulness. — Romans 12:8. 

Cheerfulness. 

I THINK we are too ready with complaint 
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope, 
Indeed, beyond the zenith and the scope 
Of yon gray bank of sky, we might grow faint 
To muse upon Eternity's constraint 

Round our aspirant souls ; but since the scope 
Must widen early, is it well to droop 
For a few days consumed in loss and taint ? 
Oh, pusillanimous heart, be comforted ; 

And like a cheerful traveller take the road, 
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread 

Be bitter in thine inn and thou unshod 
To meet the flints ? At least it may be said 

" Because the way is short, I thank Thee, God." 

MRS. BROWNING. 

Keep the sunshine of a living faith in the heart. 
Do not let the shadow of discouragement and 
despondency fall upon your path. However weary 
you may be, the promises of God will, like the 
stars at night, never cease to shine, to cheer and 
strengthen. The best harvests are the longest in 
ripening. It is not pleasant to work in the 
earth plucking the ugly tares and weeds, but it 
is as necessary as sowing the seed. The harder 
the task, the more need of singing. 

ROYAL PATH OF LIFE. 
[213] 



august 

iFfow Wuy 

Though he may slay me yet will I trust him. — Job 31 : 15. 

0UIDE me, O Lord, in all the changes and 
vanities of the world ; that in all things 
that shall happen, I may have an evenness and 
tranquillity of spirit ; that my soul may be wholly 
resigned to Thy divinest will and pleasure, never 
murmuring at Thy gentle chastisements and fatherly 
corrections. Amen. jeremy taylor. 



Our hearts are temples of the living God; and 
though idols have been set up there, Thou, O God, 
dost not desire the temple, but the idol only. Thou 
wilt lead us through grief to exaltation; thou wilt 
lead us downward, that we may stand not far from 
Thy throne. Thou wilt make us like Thyself. 
Knowing the baptism, and knowing the cup, we 
still say, " Let us not sit far from Thy right hand 
and Thy left in Thy glory. We, knowing what it is 
to follow Christ, desire still to follow. Though it 
be a crown of thorns, and the road to the cross, we 
desire to keep Thee company." beecher. 



bi 4 ] 




ppy year^. 



Shakespeare. 



Him that overcometh . . . I will write upon him my new 
name. — Revelation 3:12. 

A FAITH, a life that overcomes, — 
A warfare unto victory. 
And then reward ! A pure white stone, 

x\nd in the stone a secret name, — 
A strange, new name, and no two stones 

Shall bear inscription quite the same. 
And thus the sacred record reads : 

" No man may know it saving he 
Who shall receive it " — his alone 

This new and blessed name shall be. 

This is the thought that thrills me through : 

We have a secret — God and I ! 
He keeps it now, but unto me 

He will reveal it by and by. 
And while I wait, my heart still holds 

Some fancy, beautiful and fair, 
Of what the glad surprise will be 

When He His thought with me shall share. 

MRS. HERRICK JOHNSON. 

O God, Thou knowest what is the battle with 
each one. Wilt Thou help every one of us to gain 
victories in his own place and over his own nature. 
May we not be weary in well-doing ; may none of 
us feel as though it were too long a strife, or too 
hard to bear. beecher. 

[215] 



Qu&mt 

iEfyixb sr>a^ 

The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. 
— Revelation 7:17. 

THE Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
shall feed them. Here the imagery is pastoral. 
His people are held forth as sheep, and He per- 
forms the office of shepherd. His concern with 
them begins here. He seeks after them when lost. 
He brings them to His fold and feeds them. They 
can rely on His care, and say, "The Lord is my 
shepherd, I shall not want." 

While He affords His aid, 
I cannot yield to fear ; 
Though I should walk through Death's dark shade, 
My Shepherd's with me there. 

Nor is this all. When they shall have washed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb ; when they shall be before the throne, 
and serve Him day and night, even then, He shall 
feed them; not, as now, in the wilderness, but in 
the heavenly Canaan ; not, as now, surrounded with 
enemies, but where all shall be quietness and assur- 
ance forever. He shall be the dispenser and the 
source of happiness. " He that sitteth on the throne 
shall dii> ell among them. They shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light 
on them, nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in 
the midst of the throne shall feed them. 

WILLIAM JAY. 

[216] 



august 

ifourtf) 2Dap 

Godliness with contentment is great gain. — i Timothy 6 : 6. 

NO man can tell whether he be rich or poor by 
turning to his ledger. It is the heart that 
makes a man rich. 

Enjoy the present, whatever it may be, and be 
not solicitous for the future; for if you take your 
foot from the present standing, and thrust it for- 
ward to to-morrow's event, you are in a restless 
condition • it is like refusing to quench your thirst 
by fearing you will want to drink the next day. If 
to-morrow you should want, your sorrow would 
come time enough, though you do not hasten it ; 
let your trouble tarry till its own day comes. En- 
joy the blessings of this day, if God sends them, 
and the evils of it bear patiently and sweetly, for 
this day is ours. We are dead to yesterday and 
not yet born to to-morrow. A contented mind is 
the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world. 

T. L. HAINES AND L. W. SAGGY. 

To us remains nor place nor time ; 
Our country is in every clime ; 
We can be calm and free from care 
On any shore, since God is there. 
While place we seek or place we shun, 
The soul finds happiness in none ; 
But with our God to guide our way, 
'Tis equal joy to go or stay. 

MADAME GUYON. 
[217] 



aUQUSSt 

iftftl) spa? 

Fulfil the law of Christ. — Galatians 6 : 7. 

" T)EAR ye one another's burdens and so fulfil 
X3 the law of Christ." Enter into each other's 
life. Be helpful. Let those who have joy minister 
to those who are without it. From the cross, I seem 
to hear a voice which comes straight to us, saying : 
" Thou shalt love one another as I have loved you." 
That means that you should enter into one another's 
life and bear one another's burdens. Over against 
sorrow and suffering the Master has put Fatherhood 
and immortality. 

" Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." "Blessed are they that mourn, 
for they shall be comforted." 

Ring out the message wherever hearts are break- 
ing and eyes filled with tears ! All things are in the 
Father's hands ; not one is utterly alone ; no life is 
without purpose, and all things are moving upward. 

AMORY H. BRADFORD. 

Our God is love ; and all His saints 

His image bear below : 
The heart with love to God inspired, 

With love to man will glow. 
Teach us to love each other, Lord, 

As we are loved by Thee ; 
None who are truly born of God 

Can live in enmity. 

THOMAS COTTERILL. 
[218] 



august 

Behold the eye. of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon 
the?n that hope in his mercy. — Psalm 33 : 18. 

YOUR life and mine may be vaulted very low, 
yet it has its outlook of shining possibilities. 
We are insignificant when placed side by side with 
illustrious names. But there are those, in contrast 
with whom we are strong. With such, daily associ- 
ation makes us very familiar. 

Walk up and down this weary, suffering world, 
with eyes like Christ's. Let issue from your lives 
an influence so blessed, that, though you be not her- 
alded as the great benefactors of the race, though 
your death produce no universal shock, — there 
shall rise to God the silent testimony of sorrowing 
souls that you have comforted. e. a. tanner. 

Who calls thy glorious service hard? 
Who deems it not its own reward ? 
Who, for its trials, counts it less 
A cause of praise and thankfulness? 

For where our duty's task is wrought 
In unison with God's great thought, 
The near and future blend in one, 
And whatsoe'er is willed is done ! 

And were this life the utmost span, 
The only end and aim of man, 
Better the toils of fields like these 
Than waking dreams and slothful ease. 

WHITTIER. 

[219] 



august 

Thou hast been a shadow from the heat. — Isaiah 25 : 4. 

A SHADOW from the heat ! Heat means evil— 
every evil from which it is desirable to be 
screened. Heaven is a state — and many have 
reached it — where the sun does not light on them, 
or any heat. But it is otherwise in this world. 
Here many things affect the mind as heat does the 
body, — afflictions, trials, temptations ; here is the 
heat. Where is the shadow? Behold Me, "Come 
unto Me," "This is the rest," says God, "and this 
is the refreshing." william jay. 

Beneath the cross of Jesus 

I fain would take my stand, 
The shadow of a mighty Rock, 

Within a weary land. 
A home within the wilderness, 

A rest upon the way, 
From the burning of the noontide heat, 

And the burden of the day. 

O safe and happy shelter, 

O refuge tried and sweet, 
O trysting-place where heaven's love 

And heaven's justice meet ! 
As to the holy patriarch 

That wondrous dream was given, 
So seems my Saviour's cross to me 

A ladder up to heaven. 

ELIZABETH CLEPHANE. 

[220] 



august 

€i$)tl) 2r>ap 

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, Lord, and teach- 
est him out of thy law. — Psalm 94 : 12. 

IF we could be half sufficient to ourselves, we 
should soon lose the secret sense of depend- 
ence upon God. We build our plans up about us, 
and so we shut out the sight of heaven, and very- 
soon the thought of it, and we say to ourselves we 
will be merry with the goods we shall have stored 
up with us. 

But some earthquake of Providence shakes our 
building, and overhead it is unroofed, and the walls 
of it give way. And then there is heaven to be 
seen again, and infinity is open round us, and the 
dews of divine grace can fall on us again, and 
again we feel ourselves at the mercy of God, to be 
spared from cold, and storms, and enemies. And 
so, among the ruins of our pride, we grow to be 
loving children of the Most High instead of worldly 
creatures. mountford. 

My Jesus, as Thou wilt : 

Though seen through many a tear, 
Let not Thy star of hope 

Grow dim or disappear. 
Since Thou on earth hast wept 

And sorrowed oft alone, 
If I must weep with Thee, 

My Lord, Thy will be done. 

BENJAMIN SCHMOLKE. 
[221] 



august 

0nt\) E>a^ 

Absent in the body but present in spirit. — I Corinthians 5 : 3. 

THE nearer we draw to Christ, the nearer we 
are to all the joys that have been, or are yet 
to be ours. For in the heart of things, at the cen- 
tre of the spiritual universe, there is neither past 
nor future, but a grand, glorious, eternal present, 
where the Author of all existences dwells, and where 
it is our privilege to abide, even here among the 
earth-shadows. There should be no sadness in 
memory, as there is none in hope. We can never 
leave in the past aught of the beautiful and true 
that has once been received into our lives. It is 
the soul's permanent possession, into the full enjoy- 
ment of which we shall come when we take on the 
resurrection body. Do we ever leave the morning 
behind us? The instant it becomes a memory 
does it not become a hope also? As it recedes 
from view, are we not journeying straight toward its 
reappearing as truly as we journey toward the night 
that lies between ? Ah, Memory and Hope are not 
two angels ; they are the two outspread wings of the 
one beautiful angel Faith, who stands ever with ra- 
diant countenance fronting God's eternal present, 
at the heart of which sits enthroned our humanity 
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who holds 
in His hands the thread of each individual life, every 
gem, every jewel, ever strung thereon. Ah ! the dear 
Lord takes care of our past as well as of our future, 
else what were life worth. mrs. e. l. skinner. 
[222] 



august 

Oh ! that I had wings like a dove, for then I would fly away 
and be at rest. — Psalm 4 : 6. 

NOT now, my child, — a little more rough toss- 
ing, 
A little longer on the billow's foam ; 
A few more journeyings in the desert darkness, 
And then the sunshine of thy Father's home ! 
Not now ; for I have loved ones sad and weary : 
Wilt thou not cheer them with a kindly smile ? 
Sick ones, who need thee in their lonely sorrow ; 
Wilt thou not tend them yet a little while ? 

MRS. CAROLINE PENNEFEATHER. 

Our work on earth is not alone within ourselves ; or 
rather, as the inward work is being accomplished, it 
will find expression in all blessed helps and benefi- 
cences to others. We will minister to the bereaved 
in the midst of the strokes that have desolated their 
joys. If frosts have seared and killed their gardens 
of earthly joy, we will remind them that though 
frosts must come, Spring, too, will come again with 
its resurrection-time. We will sustain those who 
are under temptation by pointing to the promise 
that none of those who trust in God can ever be 
tempted above that they are able to bear. We will 
comfort the sick in their pain, and relieve the poor 
in their poverty. And thus going forward from one 
good work to another we will be brought safely and 
triumphantly to " the rest that remaineth for the 
people of God." 

[223] 



Clefeenti) H>a£ 

I will arise and go to my father. — S. Luke 1 5 : 18. 

WHAT time we plead our poverty, what time 
we come abjectly to ask for the lowest place, 
Thou dost throw about us the royal robe of forgive- 
ness ; Thou dost put sandals upon our feet and a 
ring upon our hand ; Thou callest for the prepara- 
tion of the feast, and we are received again in the 
estate of children in our Father's house. Our chas- 
tisements have been fewer than our sins, and when 
Thou hast mingled bitterness in our cup, Thou hast 
still forborne ; Thou hast watched our need, ever 
taking counsel of the generosity of Thine own 
heart — Thou hast dealt according to the measure 
that was in Thee, and not according to the measure 
of desert in us. beecher. 

Come home ! Come home ! 
You are weary at heart, 
For the way has been dark 
And so lonely and wild, 
O prodigal child ! 
Come home ! Oh ! come home, 

Come home ! Come home ! 
From the sorrow and blame, 
From the sin and the shame, 
And the tempter that smiled, 

O prodigal child ! 
Come home ! Oh ! come home ! 

MRS. ELLEN H. GATES. 
[224] 



august 

tKtoelftt) H>ap 

He that taketh not his cross and folloiveth after me is not wor- 
thy of me. — S. Matthew 10 : 38. 

IN the old Anglo-Saxon versions of the Scriptures, 
the word disciple is rendered " leorning-cniht " 
— a learning servant or follower. Christian Knight- 
hood or discipleship demands an absolute devote- 
ment of the life to the service of Christ. The 
candidate for knighthood in the holy orders in 
mediaeval times spent the night preceding his induc- 
tion in solemn vigils before the altar of the church, 
in solemn meditations, prayers, and confessions, 
and before he received his sword and spurs, he 
bound himself by the most solemn vows to the ser- 
vice of the church and the order. 

So too, only with deeper heart-searching, must 
he who becomes a " leorning-cniht " of Christ, bind 
himself to his Divine Master with the most solemn 
vows and the most absolute self-surrender. 

This is Christ's imperative demand : " If any 
man come after Me, let him deny himself, and take 
up his cross and follow Me. For whosoever shall 
save his life shall lose it : and whosoever will lose 
his life for My sake, shall find it." 

J. T. McFARLAND. 

Long though my task may be, 

Cometh the end. 
God 'tis that helpeth me, 
His is the work, and He 

New strength will lend. 
[225] 



august 

Wbixttmtfy SDap 

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man. — Psalm 94 : II. 

THOUGHTS of my soul how swift ye go ! 
Swift as the eagle's glance of fire, 
Or arrows from the archer's bow 
To the far aim of your desire ! 
Thought after thought ye thronging rise 

Like spring- doves from the startled wood, 
Bearing, like them, your sacrifice 

Of music unto God. whittier. 

Subtile and intangible are the forms in which 
thought steals upon us and proves it deathlessness. 
A rude stave from a plantation melody reaches us, 
and we strain our ears to catch the beating of 
a human heart ; the heart which years ago, per- 
haps, crowded all the want' and oppression, the 
anguish and simple-hearted devotion of a helpless 
people into a cry that was at once petition and 
triumphal outburst. We gaze upon the constel- 
lations at midnight, and across two thousand years 
floats the immortal thought of the psalmist : " The 
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firma- 
ment showeth His handiwork." We read the 
quaint old hymn, "Jerusalem, the golden, how 
pants my heart for thee," and our souls swell 
within us as we picture the gates of pearl and 
the street of gold, and that wonderful city, built 
without hands. mrs. john j. mccabe. 

[226] 



augusst 

ifourteentlj 2Da? 

We ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren. — 
S. John 3 : 14. 

" r I ^ O lay down our lives for the brethren." 
X Yes, some one will say, that is a beautiful 
sentiment, but the opportunity for fulfilling it is 
rare. We are not likely to be called upon to lay 
down our lives. If we should be, then we ought 
to be heroic enough to do it. Nay, this is the 
opportunity of every one of us. Not a rare call 
to the few, but the daily duty of all. 

Let any man resolutely set out to live as Christ did 
and he will find that his life will be the way of the 
cross. This was Christ's ideal — that His disciples 
should re-enact His voluntary substitutional sacri- 
fice until sin shall be driven from the world. He 
never intended that His cross should be a kind 
of magical sign to which we should look and be 
saved, but that it should be a perpetual reality 
in the lives of his followers. The cross was the 
law of His life; it must also be the law of life 
for every genuine disciple of His. It was the 
instrument of His exaltation. It must also be 
the instrument of our exaltation. 

J. T. McFARLAND. 

O hearts of love ! O souls that turn 
Like sunflowers to the pure and best ! 
To you the truth is manifest : 

For they the mind of Christ discern 
Who lean, like John, upon His breast. 

[227] WHITTIER. 



aup#t 

iftfteentlj ar>as 

In quiet resting places. — Isaiah 32 : 18. 

SHE folded up the worn and mended frock 
And smoothed it tenderly upon her knee, 
Then through the soft web of a wee red sock 
She wove the bright wool, musing thoughtfully : 
" Can this be all ? The great world is so fair, 
I hunger for its green and pleasant ways ; 
A cripple prisoned in her restless chair 

Looks from her window with a wistful gaze — 

" I can but weave a fair thread to and fro, 

Making a frail woof in a baby's sock ; 
Into the world's sweet tumult I would go, 

At its strong gates my trembling hand would 
knock ; " 
Just then the children came, the father too ; 

Their eager faces lit the twilight gloom ; 

" Dear heart," he whispered, as he nearer drew, 

" How sweet it is within this little room. 

" Home is the pasture where my soul may feed, 
This home a paradise has grown to be ; 

And only where these patient feet shall lead 
Can it be home for these dear ones and me." 

The mother drew the baby to her knee 

And, smiling, said : " The stars shine soft to-night ; 

My world is fair ; its edges soft to me, 
And whatsoever is, dear Lord, is right." 

MAY RILEY SMITH. 
[228] 



august 

fyixttrntf) s>a^ 

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance; but by 
sorrozv of heart the spirit is broken. — Proverbs 15 : 13. 

GOD bless the cheerful people — man, woman 
or child, old or young, illiterate or educated, 
handsome or homely. What the sun is to nature, 
what God is to the stricken heart, are cheerful 
persons in the house and by the wayside. They 
go unobtrusive, unconsciously, about their mission, 
happiness beaming from their faces. We love to 
sit near them. We love the nature of their eye, 
the tone of their voice. Little children find them 
out quickly, amid the densest crowd, and passing 
by the knitted brow, and compressed lip, glide 
near, laying a confiding hand on their knee, and 
lift their clear young eyes to those loving faces. 

A. A. WILLITS. 

Why do we not always smile when we meet a 
fellow-being? That is the true recognition which 
ought to pass from soul to soul. Little children 
do this involuntarily. The honest-hearted Ger- 
man peasant does it. It is the magical sunlight 
all through that simple land, the perpetual greeting 
on the right hand or the left between strangers 
as they pass each other, never without a smile. 
This then is the " Fine art of smiling," like all 
fine art, true art, perfection of art, the simplest 
following of nature. helen hunt. 

[229] 



Sugugt 

g>etomtmttt) sr>ai? 

If a man die shall he live again ? — Job 14 : 14. 

WE find in every sound mind a passionate 
desire for immortality. Wherever, since 
the morning stars sang together, man or woman 
has asked the question, "What is Truth? " and has 
patiently sought the answer, and has beaten against 
the bars of the earth, and has confronted the limits 
of time, the Comforter has whispered Immortality ! 

Wherever man or woman has been profoundly 
moved to become strong, pure, and beneficent, 
but from weakness and passion and selfishness 
has been sorely tempted to abandon the ideal, the 
Comforter has whispered Immortality / 

Wherever man or woman has caught the in- 
spiration of service, and has longed to do some- 
thing for the permanent well-being of self and 
others, and after unspeakable weariness and sinful- 
ness has looked upon meagre accomplishment, 
and has cried in bitterness, " What doth it profit ? 
Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die ! " the 
Comforter has whispered Immortality ! 

E. A. TANNER. 

Be still ! Just now be still ! 

There comes a presence very mild and sweet, 

White are the sandals on his noiseless feet ; 

It is the Comforter whom Jesus sent 

To teach what all the words He uttered meant. 

The waiting, willing spirit He doth fill : 

If thou wouldst hear His message, soul, be still ! 

[230] MRS. S. M. I. HENRY. 



augugt 

It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that 
when he shall appear zve shall be like him. — S. John 3 : 2. 

OUR highest thoughts do not reach the level 
of our happiness hereafter. For every in- 
stant it will be sublimer than first hearing the 
organ in York Minster, more tender than lovers' 
faith, more earnest than any act of self-sacrifice. 
Oh, the truths I shall know, the beauty I shall see, 
and the friends I shall have ! At first our ever- 
lasting life will be like a summer's day, so calm, 
and beautiful, and long ; it will last on and on and 
on. And when no nights come, then, little by little, 
we shall begin, in awe and wonder, to feel what 
it is to be immortal. mountford. 

As little children in a darkened hall 

At Christmas-tide await the opening door, 
Eager to tread the fairy-haunted floor 
Around the tree with goodly gifts for all, 
Oft in the darkness to each other call — 
Trying to guess their happiness before — 
Or knowing elders eagerly implore 
To tell what fortune unto them may fall : 
So wait we in Time's dim and narrow room, 

And, with strange fancies or another's thought, 
Try to divine before the curtain rise 
The wondrous scene ; forgetting that the gloom 

Must .shortly flee from what the ages sought — 
The Father's long-planned gift of Paradise. 

CHARLES HENRY CRANDALL. 
[231] 



august 

0nttemty HPag 

I have sinned. — Job 7 : 20. 

Sin. 

KNOWEST thou not all germs of evil 
In thy heart await their time ? 
Not thyself, but God's restraining, 

Stays their growth of crime. whittier. 

O Sin, what hast thou done to this fair earth? 

DANA. 

Remember that falls are not always by the grosser 
sins which the world takes count of, but by spiritual 
sins, subtle and secret, which leave no stain upon 
the outward life. manning. 

Earnest toil and strong endeavor 

Of a spirit which within 
Wrestles with familiar evil 

And besetting sin. whittier. 

All sin, unrepented of, must be punished ; and 
even the most noxious criminals, the enemies of 
God and His creatures, are not useless in the 
universe, but answer the terrible but benevolent 
end of warning all other creatures against diso- 
bedience, which would involve them in the same 
misery, just as the execution of a few malefactors 
in human governments is of extensive service to 
the rest of the subjects. lyman beecher. 

[232] 



®toentiett) sr>ay 

The way which thou shalt go. — Psalm 32 : 8. 

THERE are heart-sicknesses known to earth 
more real and distressing than any physical 
malady. Times ther£ are in each human life when 
the sharp sword pierces to the very centre of the 
soul. Speaking after the manner of this world, 
the agony seems greater than can be borne. What 
then? Shall we sink down into despair, or shall 
we take refuge then in stoicism? No. There 
is a better way. Summon thy strength to new 
courage. Say to thy soul within the thick shadows, 
where no light enters : This is the way God would 
have me go. 

" He chose this path for thee. 
No feeble chance, nor hard, relentless fate, 

But love, His love, hath placed thy footsteps here ; 
He knew the way was rough and desolate, 

He knew the heart would often sink with fear ; 
Yet tenderly He whispers, ' Child, I see 
This path is best for thee ! ' " 

" He chose this path for thee, 
Though well He knew sharp thorns would tear thy 
feet, 
Knew how the branches would obstruct thy way, 
Knew all the hidden dangers thou wouldst meet, 
Knew how thy faith would falter day by day ; 
And still the whisper echoed, ' Yes, I see 
This path is best for thee ! ' " 
[233] 



august 

None of them that trust in him shall be desolate. — Psalm 
34 -S 2 - 

I WILL not doubt though all my ships at sea 
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails ; 
I shall believe the hand that never fails 
From seeming evil worketh good for me. 

And though I weep because the sails are tattered, 
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered, 
" I trust in Thee ! " 

We are not wandering in darkness and forgetful- 
ness ; we are not cast into the midst of confusions 
and undirected turmoils of life. Thou sittest re- 
gent : all things are naked and open before Thee, 
and Thou beholdest the end from the beginning. 
In Thy hand the most complex things are simple ; 
the strangest things to our thought are plain to 
Thine. Thou wilt restrain the wrath of man, and 
cause the remainder of wrath to praise Thee ; 
and the things that run adverse, all those causes 
which conflict in time, we shall behold them from 
the other side ; and in the order of eternity all 
things shall then appear wise, nothing fugitive, 
nothing erratic. beecher. 

Yes ! I believe, and only thou 
Canst give my soul relief : 
Lord ! to thy truth my spirit bow ; 
Help thou my unbelief. 

DR. JOHN R. WREFORD. 
[234] 



august 

•S<?rz/<? /«w with a perfect heart and a willing mind. Whereby 
zue may serve God acceptably. — Hebrews 12: 28. 

IF you cannot on the ocean 
Sail among the swiftest fleet, 
Rocking on the highest billows, 

Laughing at the storms you meet, 
You can stand among the sailors 
Anchored yet within the bay ; 
You can lend a hand to help them, 
As they launch their boat away. 

If you are too weak to journey 

Up the mountains, steep and high, 
You can stand within the valley 

While the multitudes go by ; 
You can chant in happy measure, 

As they slowly pass along : 
Though they may forget the singer, 

They will not forget the song. 

ELLEN H. GATES. 

God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the 
places where He wishes us to be employed ; and 
that employment is truly " our Father's business." 
He chooses work for every creature which will be 
delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. 
He gives us always strength enough, and sense 
enough, for what He wants us to do ; if we either 
tire ourselves o? puzzle ourselves, it is our own 
fault. RUSKIN. 

[235] 



august 



Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and 
health to the bones. — Proverbs 1 6 : 24. 

An Open Secret. 

LAUGH, my young daughters, and keep your 
hearts gay — 
The secret of happiness lies 
In holding the sunshine and driving away 

The shadows that sometimes arise. 
Remember this truth in your childhood years — 
That laughter is better than tears. 

This to you, maidens — 'tis sunshine that wins. 

The light of a true, loving heart — 
Shining out through eyes that doubt never dims — 

Is the secret of beauty's art. 
'Tis also the secret of love, my dears, 
For smiles are more potent than tears. 

ROSE HARTWICK THORPE. 

I am asked how I have found life to be ? I have 
found life good. It has been good always — in 
poverty or wealth, in joy or sorrow, tenting awhile 
or wandering about. I have found life a war- 
fare, but the weapons provided were sufficient 
for victory. And the God of my childhood has 
been the Guard and Guide of my youth, and the 
friend of my gray hairs. 

AMELIA A. 13ARR. 
[236] 



august 

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. — Psalm 25 : 1. 

WE are naturally sluggish and grovelling. 
Who has not reason to acknowledge with 
sorrow, " My soul cleaveth unto the dust"? It is 
easy enough, in duty, to lift up our hands and our 
eyes and our voices, but it is another thing to 
enter into the secret of His tabernacle, and to 
hold intercourse with the God of heaven. Yet 
without this a real Christian is no more satisfied 
than God. He will not indeed undervalue the 
means of grace, or neglect public and private 
devotion • but he is disappointed unless he can 
lift up his soul to God in them. And this marks 
the spiritual worker and worshipper. He is not 
distinguished by always enjoying liberty and fervor 
in his holy exercises, but he mourns the want of 
them ; while the formalist looks no farther than 
the performance itself. But it is good to draw 
near to God. Then, there is a sacred charm that 
keeps our thoughts from wandering. Then, we 
attend on the Lord without distraction. Then, 
we feel no weariness of spirit. And our medita- 
tion of Him is sweet. 
When such a man, familiar with the skies, 
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, 
And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings : 
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide, 
Which tells us whence his treasures are supplied. 

[237] WILLIAM JAY. 



august 

Behold I stand at the door and knock. — Revelation 4 : 20 

THE certainest, surest thing I know 
Whatever, what else, may yet befall, 
Of blessings or bane, of weal or woe, , 

Is the truth that is fatefullest far of all, 
That the Master will knock at my door some night, 

And there, in the silence hushed and dim, 
Will wait for my coining with lamp and light, 
To open immediately to Him. 

I wonder if I at His tap will spring 

In eagerness up, and cross the floor, 
With rapturous step, and freely fling, 

In the murk of the midnight, wide the door ; 
Or will there be work to put away ? 

Or the taper, that burns too low, to trim ? 
Or something that craves too much delay 

To open immediately to Him? 

If this is the only thing foretold 

Of all my future, — then 1 pray, 
That quietly watchful, I may hold 

The key of a golden faith each day 
Fast shut in my grasp, that when I hear 

His step, be it dawn or midnight dim, 
Straightway may I rise without a fear 

And open immediately to Him. 

MARGARET J. PRESTON. 
[238] 



august 

Forgive us* our sins for we also forgive every one that is 
indebted to us. — S. Luke n : 12 (Revised Version). 

MEASURE our pity, not in our poor scale, 
But in Thine own, which weighs eternities; 
We do our little part, we strive, we fail ; 
Our wine of charity has bitter lees, 
Our best unselfishness seeks self to please. 

Forgive us, Lord, because we have forgiven, 
Not as we have forgiven, is our prayer ; 

Earth is so lower far than highest heaven, 
Man is not even as the angels are, 
And Thou to angels art as sun to star. 

Is not forgiveness the noblest exercise of the 
soul? When the heart is wounded and bleeding 
over the unfaith of some one in whom we trusted, 
and our whole world is dark with the shadow that 
has fallen upon us, then, if we can say " I forgive," 
the blessed dews of God's compassion may drop 
upon our wounds until we find them a healing 
balm. And when we have forgiven, we may ap- 
proach the divine Presence and implore forgiveness 
for our own errors and offences. 

Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the de- 
fects and infirmities of others, of what sort soever 
they be; for that thyself hast also many failings 
which must be borne with by others. 

THOMAS A KEMPIS. 

[239] 



By love serve one another, — Galatians 5 : 3. 

SERVICE and sacrifice are the natural language 
of love. Other men may have ambition for 
themselves, but a Christian must do as his Master 
did — serve humanity. The life that ended on the 
Cross, how little it is understood ! How many 
know that there is but one material of which 
a cross can be made ? There was never yet one 
cross of gold or silver or precious stones ; the 
only material that can get into that shape is love ; 
love that manifests itself in service which will not 
shrink from sacrifice. The first recorded word of 
Christ was : " Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business? " and His last : " It is finished." 
What lies between these words ? Constant ministry. 
When He said, " Let him that is chiefest among 
you be servant of all," He outlined the form that 
the Christ-like must take, amory h. Bradford. 

He stood beside his fellow-man and asked 

" What need'st thou ? " — then gave with freest hand ; 

But not of gold alone ; the greater part 

Of what he gave was as the quiet rain 

That blesseth all the thirsty ground — it fell 

And quenched the sorrows in a thousand hearts 

With sympathy and love unspeakable. 

He held all things in trust for God ; each day 
Was filled with kindnesses that live and move 
And gather majesty. w. bradway. 

[240] 



august 

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. — Job 7 : 6. 



THROUGH the long tiresome day she went 
With quiet sweetness, everywhere ; 
I watched her tender, tireless hands, 

Caressing here, relieving there ; 
No recompense, no answering smile, 
No words of cheer were hers the while. 

" Tell me, thou patient one," I cried, 
" What secret hope sustains thy heart, 

That through a thankless ministry 
So gentle unto all thou art? " 

She turned on me her soft eye's light ; 

" I heed them not. He comes to-night." 

O soul, whose hope is high as heaven, 

Cease thy unprofitable plaint ! 
A watcher, waiting for the Lord, 

How canst thou grieve, how dar'st thou faint? 
Work on, rejoice, while yet 'tis light, 
Thy Bridegroom's voice may call to-night. 

A day of toil — what matters it ? 

So short this life of tears and pain. 
Lift up thy face ! What dost thou fear? 

Thou hast not given thine all in vain. 
Soon thou shalt walk with Him in white, 
Who knoweth? It may be to-night. 

ADELAIDE ALLISON. 
[241] 



august 

tEfomtgminti) soap 

Let every nian take heed how he buildeth. — I Corinthians 3 : 10. 

The Builder. 

I HAVE laid each stone in its measured space, 
Turret, and tower, and stair, 
Pillars and carvings that stand on their face ; 
And I know that my work is fair. 

Yet the doubt of its beauty and worth grows strong, 

Now that my work is done ; 
And I find the thought I have held so long 

Not worthy to stand in stone. 

And the question comes, as its towers beam high 

O'er the lower walls of the town, 
Have I raised earth's dirt to thy feet, O sky, 

Or dragged thy crystal down ? 

ANNA ROBESON BROWN. 

It is not by regretting what is irreparable that 
true work is to be done, but by making the best 
of what we are. It is not by complaining that we 
have not the right tools, but by using well the tools 
we have. What we are, and where we are, is God's 
providential arrangement, — God's doing, though 
it may be man's misdoing ; and the manly and 
wise way is to look your failures in the face, and 
see what can be made out of them. 

F. W. ROBERTSON. 

[242] 



augugt 

tEljtttirtlj ffl>a^ 

/ was an hungered and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and 
ye gave me drink. — S. Matthew 25 : 35. 

BE assured that in lowly service the highest 
treasures of life will be reckoned. An emi- 
nent man was once asked, " What incident in your 
life has made the most lasting impression upon 
your mind?" It was expected that he would 
recur to some circumstance of worldly distinction, 
for he had associated with both civil and commer- 
cial princes. He replied that the only thing he 
remembered worth mentioning was the giving a 
breakfast to a poor working-girl who had lost her 
purse. " I can never forget," he said, "the look 
of sweet humility with which she said, ' I cannot 
pay; I can only thank you, and pray for you.' 
Her voice was like that of a little child saying its 
evening prayer, and I felt that it was she who was 
giving, and I was receiving." And I fancy when 
life's course has been run with us and we have 
entered, as God grant we may, into the Paradise 
above, if any one shall ask us what incident in our 
earth-life made the strongest impression upon us, 
we will recall some occasion when we put forth 
our hands for the help of the needy, when the 
" blessing of Him who was ready to perish " came 
upon us. 

" The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, 
In whatso we share with another's need. 

J. T. McFARLAND. 
[ 2 43] 



augttgt 

As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness. — 
Psalm 17 : 15. 

WE will behold His face, and oh, what will 
that mean to us ? When the tides of 
God's nature shall sweep through ours, when His 
light shall shine through our glorified souls, when 
all our tastes are quickened and exalted, when our 
natures are purified and redeemed, when we rise 
from blessing to blessing and glory to glory, and 
know the eternal life in all its fulness, then and 
not until then, will we comprehend what it means 
to "behold His face." 

There is that in our natures which longs for 
the visible presence of God — and then it will 
be satisfied. We are like children waking in the 
night and calling for a light that we may see our 
Father's face. Now, we hold His hand and grope 
after Him in the dark, but then we will indeed 
" behold His face." 

" Under the grand green palms of heaven 
I yet shall walk, 
With the good and the wise of the ages past 
Shall some day talk. 

" I shall lay my cross at the gate of pearl 
And take my crown, 
And then at the shining feet of my Lord 
Shall cast it down." 

[244] 



J- 



lip© prom day 
ho day 







9 

Keep not silence : O Lord, be not far from me. — Psalm 
25 : 22. 

J\\* HAT is the saddest, sweetest, lowest sound 
ill Nearest akin to perfect silence ? Not 

The delicate whisper sometimes in the hot 

Autumnal morning heard the corn-fields round ; 

Nor yet to lonely man, now almost bound 

By slumber, near his house a murmuring river 
Buzzing and droning o'er the shores forever. 

Not such faint voice of Autumn oat-encrowned, 

And not such liquid murmur, O my heart ! 

But tears that drop o'er graves, and sins, and fears, 
A sound the very weeper scarcely hears, 

A music in which silence hath some part. 

O Thou, all gentle, who all-hearing art, 

Hold not Thy peace, sweet Saviour, at my tears ! 

WILLIAM ALEXANDER. 

I never think of the silences of God without think- 
ing how great is the delight which comes when any 
man discovers that God really has been answering 
him all the time when he thought that his prayers 
were all unheard. That must be one of the most 
exquisite joys of heaven. phillips brooks. 

[245] 



September 

g>econ& SDap 

He that abideth in me, the same bringeth forth much fruit. — 
S.John 15:5. 

FRUIT first, Joy next ; the one the cause or 
medium of the other. Fruit-bearing is the 
necessary antecedent; and Joy the necessary con- 
sequent. It lies partly in the bearing fruit, partly 
in the fellowship which makes that possible. Joy 
lies in mere constant living in the presence of 
Christ, with all that that implies of peace, of shel- 
ter, and of love, and in the inspiration to live arid 
work for others. 

There is no mystery about Happiness. Put in 
the right ingredients and it must come out. He 
that abideth in Him will bring forth much fruit; 
and bringing forth much fruit is Happiness. 

Fill up each hour with what will last ; 

Buy up the moments as they go ; 
The life above when this is past 

Is the ripe fruit of life below. 

Sow truth if thou the truth wouldst reap ; 

Who sows the false shall reap the vain ; 
Erect and sound the conscience keep, 

From hollow words and deeds refrain. 

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure ; 

Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright ; 
Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 

And find a harvest home of light. 

E. BONAR. 

[246] 



September 



Redeem the time. — Ephesians 5:16. 

While We May. 

THE hands are such dear hands ; 
They are so full, they turn at our demands 
So often ; they reach out 
With trifles scarcely thought about, — 
If their fond wills mistake 
We well may bend, not break. 

They are such fond, frail lips 

That speak to us. Pray if love strips 

Them of deception many times, 

Or if they speak too slow, or quick, such crimes 
We may pass by ; for we may see 
Days not far off when those small words may be 

Held not as slow, or quick, or out of place, but dear 

Because the lips are no more here. 

They are such dear, familiar feet that go 
Along the path with ours — feet, fast or slow, 

And trying to keep pace — if they mistake 

And tread upon some flower that we would take 
Upon our heart, or bruise some reed, 
Or crush poor hope until it bleed, 

We may be mute 

Nor turning quickly to impute 
Grave faults ; for they and we 
Have such a little way to go — can be 

Together such a little while upon the way, 

We will be patient while we may. 
[247] 



September 

jfourt!) HOap 

This is the whole duty of man. — Ecclesiastes 22 : 13. 

THE world now as ever needs not so much 
men of genius and brilliancy, as men who 
are sternly and unswervingly loyal to duty. The 
word which Wellington, the great and invincible 
"Iron Duke," kept always before him, was duty; 
the word which, like a bright but delusive ignis 
fatuus, was forever before the mind of Napoleon, 
was glory. The glory of Napoleon went out sud- 
denly and forever like the flash of a meteor ; while 
the name of Wellington will stand through all the 
centuries for those elements by which men and 
nations are made strong. 

The path of Duty is the way to Glory, 
He that walks it, only thirsting 
For the right, and learns to deaden 
Love of self, before his journey closes 
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting 
Into glossy purples, which out-redden 
All voluptuous roses. 

J. T. McFARLANDo 

One's first duty is the one that lies nearest. 

Oh ! what a glory doth this world put on 
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks 
On duties well performed and days well spent ! 

LONGFELLOW. 

[248] 



September 

iftftl) HPa^ 

That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with 
him. — I Thessalonians 5 : 10. 

GOD'S children live with Him now, but not as 
they will live with Him hereafter. Now He 
is invisible ; then they will see Him as He is. Now 
their intercourse with Him is mediate, and often 
interrupted j then it will be immediate and free 
from any annoyance. Now they are with Him in 
the wilderness ; then they will be with Him in the 
land flowing with milk and honey. Now they 
groan, being burdened with infirmities, cares, and 
troubles ; then they will be presented faultless 
before the presence of His glory, with exceeding 
joy. Yet, whether they wake or sleep, they live 
together with Him. Here is your happiness, Chris- 
tian. It is your union with Christ. 

And therefore whatever be your circumstances, 
you may boldly say, " Nevertheless I am continually 
with Thee ; Thou hast holden me by my right hand." 

" Forever with the Lord ! " 

Amen, so let it be ! 
Life from the dead is in that word, 

'Tis immortality. 

No cloud those regions know, 
Realms ever bright and fair ; 

For sin, the source of mortal woe, 
Can never enter there. 

MONTGOMERY. 

[249] 



September 

Hold fast till I come. — Revelation 2 : 25. 

Paradise. 

WE do not know how far it lies, 
Beneath what bending sapphire skies, 
Through what unmeasurable deeps of space 
May be thy mystic, heavenly place, 
But to our lips these words arise, 
« We're on our way to Paradise ! " 

Oh, land beyond our fading sight ! 

Oh, realm which ne'er had known the night ! 

Oh, rest of heart and peace of soul ! 

Into our trembling lives doth roll 

The thought of all that grand surprise 

Awaiting us in Paradise ! 

The glimpse of far-off, hopeless years, 

With twilight gleams of stars, through tears, 

Recalls a foregone life again, 

With shock of tempest-doubt and pain, 

As from this spirit-level's rise 

We think " Not far from Paradise ! " 

Not far ! Ah no ! A prophecy 

Floats on the air of what shall be ! 

The incense, music, tint, and gleam 

Float o'er the walls — blend in the dream — 

Flood through the veins, brim up the eyes, 

Till souls cry out, " Blest Paradise ! " 

[250] 



September 

Ye call me Master and Lord : and ye say ivell ; for so I am. 
S. John 13: 13. 

IN our most exalted moods we ought to be the 
most ready to render the lowliest service to our 
fellow-men. The proof that we have the divine 
fellowship, the evidence that we have the Holy 
Spirit dwelling within us, should appear in the 
promptness and gladness with which we discharge 
the offices of a servant. It is significant that 
Christ never commands us to do those things which 
men consider great, that He never holds up for 
admiration the things which the world applauds ; 
but, over and over again, He lays stress upon those 
small deeds of kindness which it is possible for 
every one to perform, but which are counted insig- 
nificant in the eyes of the world. In that wonder- 
ful foreview which He gives of the final judgment, 
He does not recite the great and distinguished 
things which the righteous have done. But He 
speaks of those things which lie within the possi- 
bility for every man and woman. " I was an hun- 
gered and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty and ye 
gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me 
in : naked and ye clothed me : I was sick and ye 
visited me ; I was in prison and ye came unto me." 
" Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of 
these My brethren, ye did it to Me." 

J. T. McFARLAND. 
[251] 



September 

Being dead yet speaketh. — Hebrews 11:4. 

ANYTHING the dead leave unfinished, makes 
one feel the nothingness of human purposes ! 
I remember the pain in which I once saw what 
would have been a beautiful picture, only it was 
not finished ; for the painter had died suddenly. 
And there was a statue which was just being 
brought out of the marble when the artist died. 
Whatever purpose death cuts a man off from has 
for his surviving friends a look, as though it had 
been shone on by light, not of this world. 

MOUNTFORD. 

This is the prerogative of the noblest natures, — 
that their death exercises a no less blessed influ- 
ence than did their life ; that they lighten us from 
above, like stars by which to steer our course. 

GOETHE. 

And now, sometimes, from upper heights, 

From spaces wide and blue, 
The echoes of the voice we loved 

Floats down to us anew ; 
" We hail thee, comrade," comes the word 

And swift the answer flies, 
As evermore we send response 

" We hail thee in the skies." 

MARTHA CAPPS OUVER. 

[252] 



September 

Let patience have her perfect work. — James I : 4. 



MANY a one is asking in the midst of hard- 
ship and sorrow, "Is life worth living?" 
We must not be swept away by such thoughts. 
Ours is a God-given life, and every soul is precious 
in His sight. 

Why was I born? God, who never made a 
human being without some purpose, plans a high 
destiny for every one of us. Beautiful fabrics are 
woven by weavers who never see their work but on 
the wrong side. They sit before the loom with 
rough edges always before them. But the master- 
workman knows just what he wants ; he has chosen 
the pattern and set the weaver at work, and by and 
by, when the tapestry is finished, the workman is 
astonished at the beauty his own hands have 
created. 

We have the pattern of a perfect character in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. He sets us at the task of 
weaving from that pattern every day. " How dis- 
appointing and wearisome is my life ! " we say. 
Where is the use in this monotonous round ? But 
if our eyes are upon the pattern, and we faithfully 
obey orders, though we may not see now how the 
right side looks, it will be a glad surprise when it is 
finished. 

[253] 



September 

®entt) 20a? 

Light is sown for the righteous, and gtadness for the upright 
in heart. — Psalm 97 : 11. 

WHAT inexpressible joy for me, to look up 
through the apple-blossoms and the flutter- 
ing leaves, and to see God's love there ; to listen to 
the thrush that has built his nest there, and to feel 
God's love who cares for the birds, in every note 
that swells his little throat ; to look beyond to the 
light blue depths of the sky, and feel they are a 
canopy of blessing, — the roof of the house of my 
Father ; that if clouds pass over it, it is the un- 
changeable light they veil ; that, even when the day 
itself passes, I shall see, that the night itself only 
unveils new worlds of light ; and to know if I could 
unwrap fold after fold of God's universe, I should 
unfold only more and more blessing, and see 
deeper and deeper into the love which is at the 
heart of all. Elizabeth charles. 

There are in this loud stunning tide 

Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 

Of th' everlasting chime ; 
Who carry music in their heart 
Through dusty lane and wrangling mart, 

Plying their daily task with busier feet, 

Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. 

KEBLE. 

[254] 



Clefcnttl) HDap 

Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. — 
Ephesians 5 : 19. 

SING ! as the birds shall teach thee 
A song of love and trust ; 
Sing ! till the world shall listen, 
Till thine own eyes shall glisten 
As joy or grief shall reach thee, 

As a true singer must ; 
May the brave music swelling, 
From thy good heart upwelling, 
Its message still be telling 

Long after thou art dust. 

Sing ! for the world is weary 

With burden of its care ; 
And men are heavy-hearted, 
Perplexed, misjudged, and thwarted, 
And sin has made life dreary, 

Temptation everywhere ; 
Sing ! as true singer may, 
Driving these clouds away 
With promises of day 

Whose coming shall be fair. 

God sent His singers upon earth 

With songs of sadness and of mirth, 

That they might touch the hearts of men 
And bring them back to heaven again. 

LONGFELLOW. 

[255J 



How beautiful are the feet of them who bring glad tidings of 
good things. — Isaiah 52:7. 

ONCE the question was asked, " Wherefore 
wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast 
no tidings ready?" If we want to have beautiful 
feet, we must have tidings ready which they are to 
bear. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty 
themselves upon the earth. There are plenty of 
cups of cold water to be carried in all directions ; 
not to the poor only, — ministries of love are often 
as much needed by a rich friend. In such ser- 
vices we are treading in the blessed footsteps of 
His most holy life, who "went about doing good ! " 

HAVERGAL. 

He hath said, " How beautiful the feet ! " 

The feet so weary, travel-stained, and worn — 
The feet that humbly, patiently have borne 

The toilsome way, the pressure, and the heat. 

The feet, not hastening on with winged flight, 
Nor strong to trample down the opposing foe ; 
So lowly, and so human, they must go 

By painful steps to scale the mountain height. 

Not unto all the tuneful lips are given, 

The ready tongue, the words so strong and sweet ; 

Yet all may turn, with humble, willing feet, 
And bear to darkened souls the light of heaven. 

SARAH GERALDINE STOCK. 
[256] 



He was wounded for our transgressions. — Isaiah 53 : 5. 

O CHRIST, what burdens bowed Thy head ! 
Our load was laid on Thee ; 
Thou stood'st in the sinner's stead, 

Did'st bear all ill for me. 
A Victim led, Thy blood was shed ; 
Now there's no load for me. 

Jehovah lifted up His rod — 

O Christ, it falls on Thee ! 
Thou wast sore stricken of Thy God ; 

There's not one stroke for me. 
Thy tears, Thy blood beneath it flowed, 

Thy bruising healeth me. 

MARY A. R. COUSIN. 

With silent, soft, and mighty pressure, the sight 
of the Sufferer's holiness, and the gratitude for the 
Sufferer's pity, as one complete power, one perfect 
love, has drawn the depths of men's lives on to the 
nature of the Sufferer, and there their oneness to 
Him has become known to them, and they, in and 
through Him, have been renewed into the image 
of their Father, and His Father. The robber who 
was crucified with Him felt that power first. It 
was a baptism of blood, and the power which our 
baptisms re-echo found its first utterance in Him. 
" Being by nature, born in sin and the child of 
wrath," there by the fellowship of suffering, there 
by the power of love ... he was made the child 
of grace. phillips brooks. 

[ 2 57] 



September 

jfourtenttt) 2Da£ 

Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task ? — Exodus 5:14. 

THERE is some duty which God has made 
ready for you to do to-day ! He has built 
it like a house for you to occupy. You have not 
to build it. He has built it, and He will lead you 
up to its door and set you with your feet upon its 
threshold. Will you go in and occupy it? Will 
you do the duty which He has made ready? Per- 
haps it is the great comprehensive duty of the 
consecration of yourself to Him. Perhaps it is 
some special task. Whatever it is, may He who 
anticipated your love by His own in giving you the 
task, now help you to fulfil His love with yours by 
doing it. Amen. phillips brooks. 

Oh, how many deeds 
Of deathless virtue and immortal good 
The world had wanted, had the actor said 

" I will do this to-morrow ! " 

LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 

And as the path of duty is made plain 

May grace be given that I may walk therein, 

Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain, 

With backward glances, and reluctant tread, 

Making a merit of his coward dread, — 

But, cheerful in the light around me thrown, 

Walking as one to pleasant service led ; 

Doing God's will as if it were my own, 

Yet trusting not in mine, but in His strength alone. 

[253] WHITTIER. 



September 

jfiftmtt!) 2Day 

For who hath despised the day of small things. — Zechariah 
4: 10. 

SPRINGS are little things, but they are sources 
of large streams ; a helm is a little thing, but 
it governs the course of a large ship ; a bridle-bit 
is a small thing, but see its use and power ; nails 
and pegs are little things, but they hold parts of 
large buildings together ; a word, a look, a frown, 
are all little things, but powerful for good or evil. 
Think of this, and mind the little things. Pay that 
little debt — its promise redeem. Little acts are 
elements of true greatness. . . . They are tests of 
character and disinterestedness. They are the 
straws upon life's deceitful current, and show the 
current's way. The heart comes all out in them. 
They move on the dial of character and responsi- 
bility significantly. They indicate the character 
and destiny. They help to make the immortal 
man. It matters not so much where we are as 
what we are. It is seldom the acts of moral 
heroism are called for. Rather the real heroism 
of life is, to do all its little duties promptly and 
faithfully. royal path of life. 

The lives which seem so poor, so low, 

The hearts which are so cramped and dull, 

The baffled hopes, the impulse slow, 
Thou takest, touchest all, and lo ! 
They blossom to the beautiful. 

SUSAN COOLIDGE. 

[259] 



September 

The Lord have patience with me. — S. Matthew 18: 26. 

THE soul loses command of itself when it is 
impatient. Whereas, when it submits with- 
out a murmur, it possesses itself in peace, and 
possesses God. To be impatient, is to desire what 
we have not, or not to desire what we have. When 
we acquiesce in an evil, it is no longer such. 
Why make a real calamity of it by resistance? 
Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within 
the soul. We may preserve it in the midst of 
bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and sub- 
missive. Peace in this life springs from acquies- 
cence even in disagreeable things, not in an 
exemption from bearing them. fenelon. 

Oh ! lose not patience, weary heart ! 

Tangled life's web may seem ; 
But thread by thread the Master's hand 

Unravels what we deem 
Inextricable ; then we see 
How skilled a guide that hand must be. 

And so in faith we day by day 

Take both the toil and pain, 
Knowing the work and warfare each 

Shall end in heavenly gain, 
And those who have through patience won, 
Shall hear the Master's word, "Well done !" 

G. M. TAYLOR. 

[260J 



September 

=a>et>enteentl) SDap 

To do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please 
God to call me. — Book of Common Prayer. 

"TT 7HO speaks for this man?" From the 

V V great white throne, 

Veiled in its roseate clouds, the voice came forth ; 
Before it stood a parted soul alone. 

And rolling east and west, and south and north, 
The mighty accents summoned quick and dead ; 
" Who speaks for this man, ere his doom be said ? " 

Shivering he listened, for his early life 
Had passed in dull, unnoted calm, away ; 

He brought no glory to his early strife, 
No wreath of fame, or genius' fiery ray ; 

Weak, lone, ungifted, quiet, and obscure, 

Born in the shadow, dying 'mid the poor. 

Lo ! from the solemn concourse, hushed and dim, 
The widow's prayer, the orphan's blessing rose ; 

The struggler told of trouble shared by him, 

The lonely of cheered hours and softened woes ; 

And like a chorus spake the crushed and sad, 

" He gave us all he could and all he had." 

And little words of loving-kindness said, 

And tender thoughts, and help in time of need, 

Sprang up like leaves by soft spring showers fed, 
In some waste corner, sown by chance-flung seed. 

In grateful wonder heard the modest soul, 

Such trifles gathered to so blest a whole. 

ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 

[261] 



September 

I am their music. — Lamentations 3 : 63. 

WHEN troubles come, go at them with songs. 
When griefs arise, sing them down. Lift 
the voice of praise against care. They sing in 
heaven, and among God's people on earth ; song 
is the appropriate language of Christian people. 

BEECHER. 

Music should strike fire from the heart of man 
and bring tears from the eyes of woman. 

BEETHOVEN. 

What martial music is to marching men, should 
song be to humanity. Alexander smith. 

I stand by every word I utter when I sing, and 
feel that I must to the death. It is not alone song 
with me, — melodious sounds, — it is the lesson 
inculcated ; hope in the future, bright joys to come, 
the mercy of an all-wise God. I would not sing 
a frivolous word before my audience for anything 
on earth. Antoinette sterling. 

The glory of heaven, 

The sorrow of earth, 
Were breathed in one whisper, 

When music had birth. 

God set a harp in nature's beating breast ; 

The secret of the music yet to be 
Lay latent in the strings. At His behest 

Love breathed upon the wires and set it free, 

[262] 



September 

0mtttnt\) 2Da^ 

I am the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for 
his sheep. — S. John io : 2. 

HIS life " for thee " ! Oh, wonderful gift ! not 
promised, but given; not to friends, but to 
enemies. Given without condition, without reserve, 
without return. Himself unknown and unloved, 
His gift unsought and unasked, He gave His life 
for thee ; a more than royal bounty — the greatest 
gift that Deity could devise. Oh, grandeur of 
love ! " I lay down My life for the sheep ! " And 
we for whom He gave it have held back, and hesi- 
tated to give our lives, not even for Him (He has 
not asked us to do that), but to Him ! But that 
is past, and He has tenderly pardoned the unloving, 
ungrateful reserve, and has graciously accepted the 
poor little fleeting breath and speck of dust which 
was all we had to offer. And now His precious 
death and His glorious life are all "for thee." 

HAVERGAL. 

I gave My life for thee, 

My precious blood I spilt 
That thou might ransomed be 

And saved from woe and guilt. 
I gave My life for thee — 
«. What hast thou given for Me? 

May we set before us Thine own image, calmly 
beholding us, and forever looking forth upon the 
strife of life, not indifferent to its least act; and 
may we live as seeing Thee who art invisible. 
[263] 



September 

Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. — 
Jeremiah 14: 5. 

OH ! to be nothing — nothing ! 
Only to lie at His feet, 
A broken and emptied vessel, 

For the Master's use made meet ! 
Emptied that He may fill me, 

As forth to His service I go ; 
Broken that so, unhindered, 
Through me His life may flow. 

Oh ! to be nothing — nothing ! 

An arrow hid in His hand, 
Or a messenger at His gateway, 

Waiting for His command ; 
Only an instrument, ready 

For Him to use at His will ; 
And willing, should He not require me, 

In patience to wait on Him still. 

G. M. TAYLOR. 

Oh ! be little, be little ; and then thou wilt be 
content with little ; and if you feel, now and then, 
a check or a secret smiting, — in that is the Father's 
love; be not over- wise, nor over-eager, in thy own 
willing, running, and desiring, and thou mayst feel 
it so ; and by degrees come to the knowledge of 
thy Guide, who will lead thee, step by step, in the 
path of life, and teach thee to follow. Be still, 
and wait for light and strength. 1. pennington. 
[264] 



D E 



September 

Have mercy upon me, O God . . . blot out my transgressions. 
Psalm 51 : I. 

^EPTH of Mercy, can there be 
Mercy still reserved for me ? 
Can my God His wrath forbear — 
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?" 
The Salvation Army records tell how often this 
hymn has been sung in the slums of London, and 
how men and women deep in sin, feeling that for 
them there could be no forgiveness, have heard 
the message of " salvation to the uttermost," sung 
in this hymn and been saved by it. Dr. Lyman 
Abbott says : " The man who has committed a great 
sin and followed it with a great repentance, is fur- 
ther along in the moral life than the man who has 
never committed a great sin and does not know 
that he is a sinner." The outcasts of Christ's time 
were not the men with stains upon their garments- 
and with shame upon their brows \ they were the 
men and women who did not know that they had 
sins to be forgiven. I have read stories of men 
who were walled up in some dungeon castle and 
left to die there ; and as I look out in life, as I 
look sometimes into my own heart and my own 
life, it seems to me that we who preach the Gospel 
and we who sit in the pews and come to the 
prayer-meetings are in danger of that very doom ; 
we are in danger of walling up ourselves through 
our own self-satisfaction and dying of asphyxia. 

[265] JENNIE M. BINGHAM. 



September 

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. — I Samuel 15 : 22. 

THERE is no action so slight nor so mean but 
it may be done to a great purpose, and en- 
nobled therefore ; nor is any purpose so great but 
that slight actions may help it, and may be so done 
as to help it much, most especially, that chief of all 
purposes — the pleasing of God. ruskin. 

Not at the battle front, writ of in story ; 

Not on the blazing wreck, steering to glory, 

Not while in martyr-pangs, soul and flesh sever, 

Died he this hero new, hero forever. 

No pomp poetic crowned, no forms enchained him, 

No friends applauding watched, no foes arraigned 

him, 
Death found him there, without grandeur or beauty, 
Only an honest man, doing his duty : 
Death found and touched with finger in flying : 
Lo ! he rose up complete — hero undying. 

DINAH MULOCH CRAIK. 

It is not the multitude of hard duties, it is not 
constraint and contention that advance us in our 
Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yield- 
ing of our wills without restriction and without 
choice, to tread cheerfully every day in the path 
in which Providence leads us, to seek nothing, to 
be discouraged by nothing, to see our duty in the 
present moment, to trust all else without reserve 
to the will and power of God. fenelon. 

[266] 



September 

These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right 
hand. — Revelation II : I. 

ALL the promises are "To him that over- 
cometh." Listen ! " He that overcometh 
shall be clothed with white raiment and ... I 
will confess his name before my Father, and before 
the angels." "To him that overcometh will I 
grant to sit with Me in My throne, even also as 
I overcame, and am set down with my Father in 
His throne." " He that overcometh shall inherit 
all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be 
My son." All the symbolisms of that glory are 
symbolisms of victory, palms, sceptres, crowns, 
thrones. 

It is possible for a man to drift along with life's 
great army of martyrs, reformers, philanthropists, 
and victors, and yet develop none of their soldierly 
spirit. One may go through life and win no vic- 
tories, compromise with every foe, overcome noth- 
ing, achieve nothing; but it is not for such that 
heaven waits. 

Not to the vanquished, 
Heaven opens its portals. 

Rest is the glory given 
To crowned immortals, 

Where never foes surprise, 

Where never storms arise, 

Past all uncertainties, 

His rest shall be glorious. 

[267] W. F. BARTHOLOMEW. 



September 

The love of Christ, which passeth knozuledge. — Ephesians 
3= 19- 

IF ever human love was tender, and self-sacri- 
ficing, and devoted ; if ever it could bear and 
forbear ; if ever it could suffer gladly for its loved 
ones ; if ever it was willing to lavish itself for the 
comfort or pleasure of its objects ; then infinitely- 
more is Divine love tender, and self-sacrificing, and 
devoted, and glad to bear and forbear, and to 
suffer, and to lavish its best blessings upon the 
objects of its love. Put together all the tenderest 
love you know of, the deepest you have ever felt, 
and the strongest that has ever been poured out 
upon you, and heap upon it all the love of all the 
loving hearts in the world, and then multiply it by 
infinity, and you will begin, perhaps, to have some 
faint glimpse of what the love of God is. h. w. s. 

It passeth Knowledge. 
It passeth knowledge ; that dear love of Thine ! 
My Jesus ! Saviour ! Yet this soul of mine 
Would of that love, in all its depth and length, 
Its height, and breadth, and everlasting strength, 
Know more and more. 

But ah ! I cannot tell, or sing, or know, 
The fulness of that love, whilst here below : 
Yet my poor vessel I may freely bring, — 
O Thou who art of love the living spring, 

My vessel fill. mary shekleton. 

[268] 



September 

The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. — S. James 5 : 2. 

WE never have more than we can bear. The 
present hour we are always able to endure. 
As our day so is our strength. If the trials of 
many years were gathered into one day they would 
overwhelm us ; therefore in pity to our little 
strength, He sends first one, then another, then 
removes both, and lays on a third, heavier, perhaps, 
than either; but all so wisely measured to our 
strength that the bruised reed is never broken. 
We do not enough look at our trials in this con- 
tinuous and successive view. Each one is sent 
to teach us something, and altogether they have 
a lesson which is beyond the power of any to 
teach a line. h. e. manning. 

Be still and trust, 

For His strokes are strokes of love, 
Thou must for thy profit bear ; 
He thy filial fear would move, 
Trust thy Father's loving care, 
Be still and trust. 

Know God is near 
Though thou think Him far away, 
Though His mercy long hath slept, 
He will come and not delay 
When His child enough hath wept, 
For God is near. 

ANTON ULRICH (1667). 

[269] 



I would not live always. — Job 7:16. 

OH, the woods and the hill- sides, the meadows 
and the gardens, the valley with the river in 
it, summer morning with its long shadows in the 
moist grass, and the summer evening going away 
in the west, calm and sublime, like the last words 
of a blessing ! — Oh, in all these things, the beauty 
there has been, — what has it been, and what is 
it now ? It is God ; and so it is what my soul will 
be living in forever. ... Oh, how my soul used to 
yearn after Him ! Strange feeling it was ! Sorrow, 
joy, love, worship, — it was all these, — and an in- 
finite longing. It was what would have felt wealth 
like poverty, and what no sceptre would have 
pleased, — an infinite longing, to which the whole 
world felt little and nothing. mountford. 

Wings ! Wings ! 

To touch the hem of the veil that swings, 
As moved by the breath of God between 
The world of sense and the world unseen ; 
To swoon where the mystic folds divide 
And wake, a child, on the other side ! 
To wake and wonder if it be so, 
And weep for joy at the loss of woe ; 
To know the seeker is sought and found ; 
To find Love's being, but not his bound ; 
Oh ! for the living that dying brings ! 

Wings ! Wings ! mary a. lathbury. 
[270] 



September 

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. — Isaiah 
30:15. 

THE blessing of her quiet life 
Fell on us like the dew ; 
And good thoughts, where her footsteps pressed, 
Like fairy blossoms grew. whittier. 

It is the lives, like the stars, which simply pour 
down on us the calm light of their bright and 
faithful being, to which we look and out of which 
we gather the deepest calm and courage. No man 
or woman can really be strong, gentle, pure, and 
good, without the world being better for it, without 
somebody being helped and comforted by the very 
existence of that goodness. phillips brooks. 

The deliverance of the soul from all useless and 
selfish and unquiet cares, brings to it an unspeak- 
able peace and freedom ; this is true simplicity. 
And the effect of this simplicity is felt, not in one's 
life alone, but it shines into other lives with a clear 
serene light like that of moonlight or star-shine. 
This is the strength of the quiet soul-: other souls 
will come to it for rest and quieting ; other lives 
will grow peaceful by viewing its peace. Small 
anxieties and frets will vanish in its presence, and 
earthly shadows will be pierced and interfused with 
its heavenly light. 

[271] 



®tontt^rigt)tt) SDay 

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. — Psalm 103:4. 

THE ideal embodied in a redeemed life is high. 
It means not alone your own salvation, but 
that you are called to the work of saving the world. 
William Scott, the Vermont boy whose life Lincoln 
saved, after he had been condemned to be shot, 
is an example of how a redeemed life spent itself 
in sacred service. Scott, in telling of his interview, 
said that Mr. Lincoln came to him and said : — 

a My boy, you are not going to be shot to- 
morrow. I am going to trust you, and send you 
back to your regiment. I have come to Washing- 
ton when it was hard to come, and now, how will 
you pay my bill?" Scott said : "There was a big 
lump in my throat ; I could scarcely speak, but I 
managed to say, ' I will pay you some way.' " " But 
it is a great deal," said Mr. Lincoln ; and then he 
put his hands on my shoulders, and said : " My 
bill is a very large one, my boy. There is only 
one man in the world who can pay it, and his name 
is William Scott. If from this day he does his 
duty so that at life's close he can say,/ I have kept 
my promise and have done my duty as a soldier, 
then my debt will be paid. Will you make that 
promise, and try to keep it?' " 

The record says that Scott became one of the 
truest, best soldiers ever known, and that he died 
risking his life in the rescue of wounded men. 

[272] 



September 

Whom having not seen, ye love. — I Peter I : 8. 

IN reflecting the character of Christ, it is no real 
obstacle that we may never have been in visible 
contact with Himself. 

There lived once a young girl whose perfect 
grace of character was the wonder of those who 
knew her. She wore on her neck a gold locket 
which no one was ever allowed to open. One day, 
in a moment of unusual confidence, one of her 
companions was allowed to touch its secret spring 
and learn its secret. She saw written these words 
— " Whom having not seen, I love" That was the 
secret of her beautiful life. She had been changed 
into the Same Image. drummond. 

Whom Having Not Seen, Ye Love. 

" Not seen ! " The veil of flesh 
Doth dim our spirit's eyes, 

Nor shall we see, until 
We mount the vaulted skies. 

But we will love Thee still, our Lord ! 

Believing all Thy gracious word. 

" Not seen ! " but dearer far 
Than aught that greets the sight ; 

We seek Thee through the day, 
And trust Thee through the night. 

In busy toil or silent sleep, 

Thy loving watch around us keep. 

[273] 



September 
{TOtnrttetl) a>a^ 

That Rock was Christ. — I Corinthians 10:4. 

The Wondrous Rock of Ages. 

O WONDROUS Rock of Ages, 
What power and might are Thine, 
What memories 'round Thee cluster 

As pilgrims 'round a shrine ! ■ 
Rock, ever firm and steadfast, 

Confessed in prayer and song, 
In whom our fathers trusted, — 
What hopes around Thee throng ! 

The storms of life may gather, 

The winds beat to and fro, 
But always there is refuge, 

Where we may freely go ; 
No dark or dread disaster 

Can e'er oppress the day, 
For 'neath Thy sacred shelter 

All griefs are swept away. 

O precious Rock of Ages ! 

Since Thou wert cleft for me, 
I'm sheltered from all danger 

If I but hide in Thee ; 
Securely there abiding 

On Thee I calmly rest, 
Whatever be my portion 

I count it good and blest. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 
[274] 




SPetoIbep. 



SDctober 

* 

jptjt#t E>a^ 

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so 
great a cloud of zvitnesses, let us lay aside every zveight, and 
the sin which doth so easily beset us. — Hebrews 1 2 : I . 

yjV*E a re encompassed about by a cloud of wit- 
%Xw nesses, whose hearts throb in sympathy with 
every effort and struggle, and who thrill with 
joy at every success. How should this thought 
check and rebuke every feeling that is worldly and 
every unworthy purpose, and enshrine us, in the 
midst of a forgetful and unspiritual world, with an 
atmosphere of heavenly peace ! They have over- 
come — have risen — are crowned, glorified ; but 
still they remain to us, our assistants, our com- 
forters, and in every hour of darkness their voice 
speaks to us : " So we grieved, so we struggled, so 
we fainted, so we doubted ; but we have overcome, 
we have obtained, we have seen, we have found, — 
and in our victory behold the certainty of thy own." 

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 

Not a vain and cold ideal, 

Not a poet's dream alone, 
But a presence warm and real, 

Seen and felt and known. 

WH1TTIER. 

[=75] 



flDctobet 

£>econti HDap 

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me . . . and ye shall 
find rest. — S. Matthew 1 1 : 20. 

CHRIST never said much in mere words about 
the Christian graces. He lived them, He 
was them. Yet we do not merely copy Him. We 
learn His art by living with Him, like the old 
apprentices with their masters. He says " Follow 
me . . . and you will find rest." Perhaps if we 
knew how much was involved in the simple " learn" 
of Christ, we would not enter His school with so 
irresponsible a heart. For there is not only much 
to learn, but much to unlearn. Many persons 
never go to this school at all until character has 
almost taken on its fatal set. But it can be done 
— and there is Rest in the school although there is 
also' much Work. henry drummond. 

The heart bereft of all its brood of singing hopes, 

and left 
'Mid leafless boughs, a cold, forsaken nest, 
With snowflakes in it : folded in Thy breast 
Doth lose its deadly chill ; and grief that creeps 
Unto Thy side for shelter, finding there 
The wound's deep cleft, forgets its moan and weeps 
Calm, quiet tears ; . . . pain on Thee doth press 
Its quivering cheek, and all the weariness, 
The want that keep their silence, till from Thee 
They hear the gracious summons ; none beside 
Hath spoken to the world-worn, " Come to me ! " 
[ 27 6] 



October 

If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual 
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thy- 
self, lest thou also be tempted. — Galatians 6: I. 
What doest thou here, Elijah ? — I Kings 9:13. 

GOD well knew where Elijah was when He 
asked, "What doest thou here?" But He 
would know from Elijah himself, that, being called 
upon to account for his conduct, he might be con- 
vinced of his folly. God has a right to know where 
we are, and what we are doing ; He is interested in 
observing our conduct ; interested as a judge who 
is to pass sentence upon our actions ; as a friend, 
who would check us when we go astray. Elijah's 
reproof was a reproof given to a good man. But 
while God does not cast him off, He reprehends 
him. It is thus His gentleness makes us great 
If a brother be overtaken in a fault, let us not 
employ the earthquake, the wind, and the fire, but 
the small still voice. Let us take him aside, and 
tell him his fault between him and us alone. 

Jesus, let Thy pitying eye 

Call back a wandering sheep ; 
False to Thee, like Peter, I 

Would fain like Peter weep ; 
Let me be by grace restored, 

On me be all long-suffering shown, 
Turn and look upon me, Lord, 

And break this heart of stone. 

C. WESLEY. 

[277] 



jfourd) 2Da£ 

In our low estate. — Psalm 136 : 23. 

NOT a few in their last hours find themselves 
tried because the future is so uncertain, be- 
cause their life has been so imperfect. . . . When 
they think what God is in His purity and majesty, 
they tremble, and dare not die. Why, then, do they 
not think what God is in His mercy ! He stands in 
the plenitude of all-comforting grace — grace not 
to be given to those that have, but grace to be 
given as raiment is given to those that are naked, 
as medicine is given to those that are sick, as food 
is given to those that are hungry, as charity is 
bestowed on those that are needy. God supplies, 
not the supplied, but the unsupplied ; He strengthens, 
not the strong, but the weak ; He comforts, not the 
rejoicing, but the sorrowing. beecher. 

Leave all to God, 
Forsaken one, and stay thy tears ; 
For the Highest knows thy pain, 
Sees thy suffering, and thy fears ; 
Thou shalt not wait His help in vain. 
Leave all to God. 

If thou love Him, 
Walking truly in His ways, • 
Then no trouble, cross, or death, 
E'er shall silence faith and praise ! 
All things serve thee here beneath 
If thou love God. anton ulrich. 

[ 27 8] 



flDctotier 

jfiftfj SDap 

All things to all men. — I Corinthians 9 : 22. 

VERY largely we ourselves become what others 
are to us. . . . Love truly, and then other 
men's souls will be sources of your soul's growth. 
Sympathize with the good in their endeavors, and 
you yourself will be morally stronger. Revere the 
wise, and yours will be the state of mind into which 
wisdom comes most freely. Love little children, 
and something of their innocence will come over 
your mind, and whiten its darker spots. Love them 
that are old, and your soul will be as though the 
longer experienced in life. This life that we are 
living in is not empty of power, but full of it, — 
power that is on us and about us always, and into 
the nature of which we have vision given us, that 
we should not perish. 

Wish to be a child of God ; and then sunshine 
and frost, and friends and enemies, and youth and 
age, and business and pleasure, and all things will 
help to make you one. mountford. 

Attainment. 

The soul that longs for higher things unknown, 
Shall not forever long unsatisfied ; 

The heart's desire shall of itself alone 

Lift up the soul to that for which it cried. 

MARY A. LEWIS. 

[279! 



October 

£>ijrtlj Way 

Thy law is within ?/iy heart. — Psalm 40 : 8. 

Within. 

WITHIN the circling storm there is a centre 
Of perfect rest ; 
Within the cloud we so much fear to enter 

Are visions blest. 
Within the husk the harvest lies enfolded ; 

The chaff falls dead, 
But the sweet life the summer months have moulded 

Becomes our bread. 
Within the bark, all rough and deeply wrinkled, 

Flow hidden streams, 
Bearing a thousand flowers with perfume sprinkled — 

The sun's bright beams. 
Within the shell are wings, and songs unspoken, 

A perfect bird ; 
All useless wings, until the shell be broken, 

And songs unheard ! 
Within, the spirit dwells ; the outer letter 

Is not the whole ; 
'Tis but the body, or at times a fetter 

Binding the soul. 
Within the veil, beyond the world's pollution, 

Are seas of light, 
Giving to each enigma its solution — 

The perfect sight ! 

HENRY BURTON. 
[280] 



SDctobcr 

For the very works' sake. — S. John 14 : II. 

OTHERS shall sing the song, 
Others shall right the wrong, 
Finish what I begin, 
And all I fail of, win. 

What matter, I or they? 
Mine or another's day, 

So the right word be said 

And life the sweeter made? 

WHITTIER. 

I will not say that humility is the only way to 
excellence, but I am sure that it is one road. 

LONGFELLOW. 

Labour as if the success of this life and the life 
eternal rested upon you alone. And yet keep to 
that sweet humility which allows others to build 
upon the low foundation of that which you have 
begun but could not finish. 

Keep in mind the idea that it is the work itself 
that is of consequence to the world, and not the 
worker. 

No matter whether He calls us into ways of 
honour or of scorn, it is all one if His work is 
thereby done. The consecrated soul will merge 
all thoughts of self in the one thought of helping 
on the kingdom of God. 

[281] 



SDctober 

As for man, his days are as grass : as a flower of the field, so 
he flourisheth. — Psalm 103: 15. 

THERE is a past which is gone forever, but 
there is a future which is still our own. 

F. W. ROBERTSON. 

Looking calmly yet humbly for the close of my 
mortal career, which cannot be far distant, I rever- 
ently thank God for the blessings vouchsafed me in 
the past, and with an awe that is not fear, and a 
consciousness of demerit that does not exclude 
hope, await the opening before my steps of the 
gates of the eternal world. Horace greeley. 

The places that know you will soon know you no 
more forever. The cares that made you fret yester- 
day are already below the horizon. Your friends 
have gone on before ; but what of that ? You will 
soon be with them. Your life is full of troubles 
and mischiefs ; but what of that ? Your mischiefs 
and troubles are nearly over — nearer than you 
think. The glorious future is almost yours. 

It is not death to close 

The eye long dimmed with tears, 

And wake, in glorious repose, 
In God's Eternal Years. 

ABRAHAM H. C. MOLAN. 
[282] 



GDttObZY 
J]5tntt) 2Da£ 

When I fail I shall arise. — Micah 7 : 8. 
/ will arise atid go to my Father. — S. Luke 15 : 18. 

BE patient with every one, but above all with 
yourself. I mean, do not be disturbed because 
of your imperfections, and always rise up bravely 
from a fall. I am glad that you make a daily new 
beginning ; there is no better means of progress in 
the spiritual life than to be continually beginning 
afresh. s. francis de sales. 

It is not that I feel less weak, but Thou 
Wilt be my strength ; it is not that I see 
Less sin ; but more of pardoning love with Thee, 
And all-sufficient grace. 

F. W. HAVERGAL. 

O child, hast thou fallen ? arise, and go, with 
child-like trust, to thy Father, like the prodigal son, 
and humbly say, with heart and mouth, " Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and 
am no more worthy to be called Thy son ; make 
me as one of Thy hired servants." And what will 
thy heavenly Father do but what that father did in 
the parable. Assuredly He will not change His 
essence, which is love, for the sake of thy mis- 
doings. Is it not His own precious pleasure, and a 
small thing for Him to forgive thy trespasses, if 
thou believe in Him ? for His hand is not shortened 
that it cannot make thee fit to be saved. 

JOHN TAULER. 

[283] 



The Lord is my helper. — Hebrews 13:6. 

DO not be discouraged at your faults ; bear 
with yourself in correcting them, as you 
would with your neighbor. Lay aside this ardor 
of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads you 
to commit errors. Accustom yourself gradually to 
carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, 
move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as 
indeed you ought to be. Do everything without 
excitement, by the spirit of grace. As soon as you 
perceive your natural impetuosity gliding in, retire 
quietly within, where is the kingdom of God. Listen 
to the leadings of grace, then say and do nothing but 
what the Holy Spirit shall put in your heart. You 
will find that you will become more tranquil, . . . 
and that you will accomplish more good. 

FENELON. 

Just to trust and yet to ask 

Guidance still ; 
Take the training or the task 

As He will. 
Just to follow, hour by hour, 

As He leadeth, 
Just to draw the moment's power 

As it needeth ; 
Just to trust Him — that is all, 
Then the day will surely be 
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall, 

Bright and blessed, safe and free. 
[284] 



October 

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him 
while he is near. — Isaiah 55 : 6. 

NEARER to Thee, O my Father, still nearer, 
This is my song and my reverent plea, 
This is the theme of my fervent petition, 

Nearer to Thee, Saviour, nearer to Thee ! 
When I am heedless Thy hand will restrain me, 

Gently my feet all the way will be led, 
When I am weary Thy love will sustain me, 
Sweetly thy dews will descend on my head. 

Waking or sleeping, smiling or weeping, 

What recks it how my days be — 
If they but lead me, if they but speed me 
Nearer and nearer to Thee ? • 

Or, if in darkness my path must be followed, 

Speak through the silence, my spirit constrain, 
Show me what providence, sacred and hallowed, 

Urges my steps through the valley of pain ! 
Show me how service or sacrifice lowly 

Leads to the heights and to visions divine, 
Whisper a message all tender and holy, — 

Thus through the gloom will Thy voice answer 
mine. 
Trusting or fearing, listening or hearing, 

All my days let them be 
Envoys to lead me, heralds to speed me 
Nearer and nearer to Thee ! 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 

[285] 



fiDctober 

By grace ye are saved. — Ephesians II : 5. 

IT is not strength of intellect that saves a man, 
or the most respectable surroundings, or ortho- 
doxy of creed. All these under pressure have 
proved to be but ropes of sand attached to anchors 
of straw ; they never hold a man against the tides 
of strong temptation. He must have Christian 
principle, or he is lost. No man is safe in business 
or safe in politics or safe in personal character, 
when conscience cuts loose from God. He may 
float for a while, but it is a question of time how 
soon he shall strike and go to the bottom. God 
never insures any one, not even in the church, who 
has refused to guide his course by the Bible com- 
pass, and to fasten his soul to Jesus Christ. But 
the cable of Christ's love will not only keep you 
steadfast through life's storms and through its 
treacherous under-currents, but will advance you 
heavenward. The refusal of Jesus Christ means 
the shipwreck of your immortal soul. Fasten in 
faith your weakness to His strength, your sinful 
heart to His cleansing grace, and you are saved. 
If you reach heaven, my friend, you will come in, 
like that returning ship from its long voyage, with 
your anchor at the prow. You will give all the 
glory not to your own skill or your own seamanship, 
but to Him whose atoning blood purchased your 
redemption, and whose mighty arm of love brought 
you into the heavenly port. theodore l. cuyler. 
[286] 



October 

®t)i«tmtli Da? 

In him we live and move and have our being. — Acts 
17:28. 

ABIDE in me : o'ershadow by thy love 
Each half-formed purpose and dark thought 
of sin ; 
Quench ere it rise, each selfish, low desire 
And keep my soul as Thine, calm and divine. 

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 

Yea ! In Thy life our little lives are ended, 
Into Thy depths our trembling spirits fall ; 

In Thee enfolded, gathered, comprehended, 

As holds the sea her waves — Thou hold'st us all. 

SCUDDER. 

To whatever worlds He carries our souls when 
they shall pass out of these imprisoning bodies, in 
those worlds these souls of ours shall find them- 
selves part of the same great Temple : for it 
belongs not to this world alone. There can be 
no end of the universe where God is, to which 
that growing temple does not reach — the temple 
of a creation to be wrought at last into a perfect 
utterance of God by a perfect obedience to God. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

Nothing of joy or grief, of pleasure or pain that 
we experience but has some part in the experience 
of Christ. When we make prayer the scaling ladder 
to reach Him, we not only find Him, but we may 
indeed live in Him as He in us. 
[287] 



SDctober 

jfourteentf) H>a^ 

We walk by faith, not by sight. — 2 Corinthians 5 : 7. 

"POME day," we say, and turn our eyes 
w3 Toward the fair hills of Paradise. 
Some day, some time, a sweet, new rest 
Shall blossom, flower-like, in each breast, 
Some time, some day, our eyes shall see 
The faces kept in memory, 
Some day their hands shall clasp our hands 
Just over in the morning lands. 
Some day our ears shall hear the song 
Of triumph over sin and wrong. 
Some day, some time ; but oh ! not yet ; 
But we will wait, and not forget 
That some time all these things shall be, 
And rest be given you and me. 
So wait, my friend, though years move slow, 
The happy time will come, we know. 

NEW ORLEANS ITEM. 

This is what it is to walk by faith — to feel that 
we are ever drawing nearer to our home. You 
that are called of God, you that have a hope in 
Jesus Christ, have not only a duty, but a right of 
joy. It is a part of that treasure which God has 
given you, and you have a right to be increasingly 
joyful. The nearer you come to the end of life 
and to the kingdom of heaven, the more your 
heart should shine and your tongue rejoice. 

[288] 



j 



October 

jftftentrt) SDai? 

Be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. — 
Ephesians 4 : 32. 

CHARITY does not demand of us that we 
should not see the faults of others ; we must 
in that case shut our eyes. But it commands us to 
avoid attending to them unnecessarily, and that 
we be not blind to the good, while we are so clear- 
sighted to the evil that exists. 

No man is obliged to live so free from passion 
as not to show some resentment ; and it is rather 
stoical stupidity than virtue, to do otherwise. 
Anger may glance into the breast of a wise man, 
but rest only in the bosom of fools. Fight hard 
against resentment. Anger will come, but resist it 
strongly. A spark may set a house on fire. A fit 
of passion may give you cause to mourn all the 
days of your life. Never revenge an injury. 

I bow before the noble mind 

That freely some great wrong forgives ; 

Yet noble is the one forgiven 

Who bears that burden well, and lives. 

ADELAIDE PROCTER. 

The soul which sin has overtaken is like a bruised 
reed. It must be raised up gently, that it may once 
more aspire heavenwards. e. bersier. 

Reproof is not an act of butchery, but of surgery. 

ARCHBISHOP SECKER. 

[289] 



®ttobtt 

<a>ijrteentl) 2Dai> 

With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. — 
Isaiah 12:3. 

A FOUNTAIN, or a well, in the sacred writings, 
is an emblem of that which produces joy 
and refreshment ; which sustains and cheers. The 
figure is often employed to denote that which 
supports and refreshes the soul; which sustains 
man when sinking from exhaustion — as the bub- 
bling fountain or well refreshes the weary and faint- 
ing pilgrim. It is thus applied to God as an over- 
flowing fountain, fitted to supply the wants of all. 
The water of life is sweet and refreshing, the 
wells of salvation are deep and inexhaustible ; but 
none can drink save those who draw. " With joy 
we are to draw water out of the wells of salvation. 
Faith is the bucket, but joy and love are the hands 
that move it. 

O Christ, we come to draw, 

For we are thirsty, faint, and worn, 
Thine are the living wells 

Whence cooling waters flow, 
And healing for our wounds : 
O give us strength to draw. 
But help us, Lord, we pray, 
Our vessels are so small, 
That we must dip and dip again 
Before our thirst is quenched 
Or hearts made whole again ; 
O give us strength to draw ! 
[290] 



October 

&ttimttmt\) sr>ay 

Lord, iJwu hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt 
cause thine ear to hear. — Psalm 10 : 17. 

LEARN to entwine with prayers the small 
cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants of 
daily life. Whatever affects you — be it a changed 
look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a wound, 
a demand you cannot meet, a sorrow you cannot 
disclose — turn it into prayer, and send it up to 
God. Disclosures you may not make to man you 
can make to the Lord. Only give yourself to 
prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it. 



From this sinful heart of mine, 
To Thy bosom I would flee ; 

I am not my own, but Thine, 
" God be merciful to me ! " 

There is one beside Thy throne, 
And my only hope and plea 

Are in Him, and Him alone, 
" God be merciful to me ! " 

He my cause will undertake, 

My interpreter will be ; 
He's my all — and for His sake, 

" God be merciful to me ! " 

J. S. B. MONSELL. 



[291] 



With lovingkindness. — Jeremiah 31 : 3. 

WHAT was the secret of such a one's power? 
What had she done ? Absolutely nothing, 
hut radiant smiles, beaming good humor, the tact 
of divining what every one felt and every one 
wanted, told that she had got out of self and 
learned to think of others ; so that at one time it 
showed itself by sweet words ; at another, by 
smoothing an invalid's pillow ; at another, by sooth- 
ing a sobbing child. None but she saw those 
things. None but a loving heart could see them. 
That was the secret of her heavenly power. The 
one who will be found in trial capable of great acts 
of love, is ever the one who is always doing con- 
siderate small ones. f. w. Robertson. 

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure ; 

Sow peace, and reap its harvests bright ; 
Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 

And find a harvest home of light. bonar. 

May I reach 
That purest heaven, be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony, 
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense ! 
So shall I join the choir invisible 
Whose music is the gladness of the world. 

GEORGE ELIOT. 

[292] 



ADctober 

0ntttmt\) 2Da^ 

With patience. — S. Luke 8: 15. 

GO bend to God, and leave to Him 
The mystery of thy brother's heart, 
Nor vainly think his faith is dim 

Because in thine it has no part. 
He too is mortal, and, like thee, 

Would soar to immortality. 
There may be hope as pure, as bright, 

As ever sought eternity, — 
There may be light, clear, heavenly light, 

Where all seems cold and dark to thee. 

And as a bird each fond endearment tries 
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, 
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. 

GOLDSMITH. 

God can and does render sinners happy in spite 
of their sins, for Christ's sake, remitting to them 
its penalty, while its power is only partially broken, 
fostering them, and rejoicing over them until their 
restoration to spiritual health is complete. Any- 
thing that turns the sinner's regard inward on him- 
self as a ground of hope, instead of bidding him 
look to Christ, must plunge him into despair, and 
despair is the portal of death, charles hodge. 

Be patient under trials, and always look at the 
reverse side for the mercy that may be concealed 
beneath the " forming providence." 
[293] 



^October 

®tomttetlj SDap 

Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
Christ. — I Corinthians io: 5. 

THEY are never alone who are accompanied 
by noble thoughts. sir philip Sidney. 

A broad-minded selection of noble passages, 
though it may not be able to do all we 'could 
wish in a moral way, can certainly do much to 
raise men to a high moral, political, and social 
plane. I believe that gems of literature introduced 
into our schools, if properly taught, will be able 
to do this, partly by their own directive influence, 
on the young mind, but particularly and partly as 
it shall result in an abiding thirst for noble reading. 

JOHN B. PEASLEE. 

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are mo- 
ments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, 
the soul is on its knees. victor hugo. 

For your own sakes, brethren, for God's sake, 
let your thought rise. Bid it, force it to rise. 
Think of the face of Jesus, of your future home 
in heaven, of the loved ones who have gone before 
you. Think of all that has ever cheered, quick- 
ened, braced you. In such thoughts, to such 
thoughts, Jesus will assuredly and increasingly re- 
veal Himself. liddon. 

The key to every man is his thought. 

THACKERAY. 

[294] 



October 

©inent^first arm? 

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Galatians 6:14. 

My Cross. 

HE lays on me my cross, 
It is my own ; 
I know, alone, 
My suffering, my loss. 
He binds it on my heart ; 

Its fibres press 

With sore distress, 
From it I never part. 
My cross is meted me : 

Its breadth and length 

Fitted my strength ; 
Though weighted heavily. 
No less than this 

Enough could be 

To chasten me, 
Until the Hand I kiss. 

You have your cross, my friend. . . . There is 
pain in the duty which you do. But if in all your 
pain you know that God's love is becoming a dearer 
and plainer truth to you ; and that the vision of the 
world's redemption is growing more certain and 
bright, then you can be more than brave ; you can 
triumph in every task, in every sacrifice. Your 
cross has won something of the beauty and glory 
of your Lord's. Rejoice and be glad, for you are 
crucified with Christ. phillips brooks. 

[ 2 95] 



October 

Because I live ye shall live also. — S. John 14 : 19. 

GOD'S I am — if the soul has God within it 
it is His everlastingly, — His to grow forever. 
There will grow in it the whole wisdom in which 
this world is made. 

In the dark everything is shut out from us but 
the omnipotent present, and so in darkness the 
Godhead wraps us around like a felt presence. 
A clear night calms me, and while I am walking 
in it, high truths rise upon my soul, like stars above 
the horizon. In nature, one view calms the soul, 
another purifies it, and another sublimes it. But 
it is possible, in the sight of the same scene, and 
at the same time, for one man to feel one way, 
and another another ; for one looker to be solem- 
nized, and another to be made more hopeful. Just 
as, looking on the blessed face of Christ, a happy 
person would rejoice more purely, and a tearful 
one sorrow more holily. So it is with nature. 
O, out in the country, sometimes, my soul feels 
wrapped, as though in the arms of the Great 
Father. It is as though the wind whispered me 
divine messages ; and it is as though divine mean- 
ing broke upon me from out of the clouds, and the 
hillsides, and from among the stars. And I know 
that I am growing into the spirit of it all, — the 
brightness of the sun, the majesty of the night, — 
the purity of the winter, and the contentment of 
the summer. mountford. 

[296] 



October 

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me. — S. John 
4:24. 

NOTHING is small or great in God's sight; 
whatever He wills becomes great to us, how- 
ever seemingly trifling, and if once the voice of 
conscience tells us that He requires anything of us, 
we have no right to measure its importance. On 
the other hand, whatever He would not have us 
do, however important we may think it, is as 
nought to us. How do you know what you may 
lose by neglecting this duty, which you think so 
trifling, or the blessing which its faithful perform- 
ance may bring ? Be sure that if you do your very 
best in that which is laid upon you daily, you will 
not be left without sufficient help when some 
weightier occasion arises. Give yourself to Him, 
trust Him, fix your eye upon Him, listen to His 
voice, and then go on bravely and cheerfully. 

JEAN NICHOLAS GROU. 

I am glad to think 
I am not bound to make the world go right ; 
But only to discover and to do, 
With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints. 

I will trust in Him, 
That He can hold His own ; and I will take 
His will, above the work He sendeth me, 
To be my chiefest good. jean ingelow. 

[297] 



October 

{Ktomt^fourtf) Dap 

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. — Jeremiah 
3i:3. 

WE know how to love our friends because 
they are no worse than we ; but how Christ 
can stoop from without the circle of blessed spirits 
to love us, who are begrimed with sin, and be- 
stormed with temptation, and wrestling with the 
lowest parts of humanity, — that is past our rinding 
out. He has loved us from the foundation of the 
world ; and because heaven was too far away for us 
to see, He came down to earth to do the things 
which He has always been doing profusely above. 
Christ's life of earth was not an official mission ; 
it was a development of His everlasting state, 
a dip to bring within our horizon those character- 
istics and attributes which otherwise we could not 
comprehend; — God's pilgrimage on earth as a 
shepherd, in search of His wolf-imperilled fold. 
And when I look into His life I say to myself, "As 
tender as this, and yet on earth ? What is He now, 
then?" BEECHER. 

It passeth knowledge : that dear love of Thine ! 
My Jesus ! Saviour ! Yet this soul of mine 
Would of that love in all its depth and length, 
And height and breadth and everlasting strength 
Know more and more. 

MARY SHACKELTON. 
[298] 



®toent? ; fiftl) aDap 

Get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. — • 
Proverbs 15:7. 

Think of It. 

THE secret of success of one of England's 
most learned men was bound up in four 
little words, which he took as a motto, " I'll think 
of it." And although to-day we may think it 
a little thing to think, let us learn that it is the 
power that moves the world. That it is the great 
drive-wheel of progress, driving, with its propelling 
force, humanity from wrong to right ; driving it 
from the dark shades of barbarity into the sun-lit 
regions of civilization ; lifting it higher, step by 
step, into that glorious realm, manhood. And as 
surely as terrestrial power is drawn from the sun, 
so surely is the propelling power and influence over 
man drawn from that fountain ever rich and full, 
the mind. 

Great truths are dearly bought. The common truth, 
Such as men give and take from day to day, 

Comes in the common walks of easy life, 
Blown by the ceaseless wind across our way. 

Great truths are greatly won. Not found by chance, 
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream, 

But grasped in the great struggle of the soul 
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 

[299] 



I say unto thee, Arise. — S. Luke 7: 14. 

HE meets us bearing forth our dead hopes 
through the city's gate ; He meets us when 
our hearts are faint and weary ; when we feel the 
emptiness of all with which this world has sought 
to cheat our earnest longings for the great, the 
real, and the true. He stands beside the bier, He 
bids us weep no more, He stops our mourning 
steps ; the dead hear Him ; hopes of youth, aspira- 
tion of heart, dreams of purity, of high service, 
with which once our spirits kept glad company, but 
which had withered, and sunk, and died, as the 
hot and scorching sun of common life arose upon 
us — these revive ; they turn to Him, and He gives 
them back to us, and bids us cherish them for 

Him. BIBLE STUDIES. 

Bring warmth to this coldness, bring life to this death • 
Renew the great miracle ; let us behold 
The stone from the mouth of the sepulchre rolled, 
And hope, like to Lazarus, rise as of old ! 

Let our faith, which in darkness and coldness has lain, 
Revive with the warmth and the brightness again, 
And in blooming of flower and budding of tree 
The symbols and types of our destiny see ; 
The life of the spring-time, the life of the whole, 
And as the sun to the sleeping earth love to the 

SOul ! WHITTIER. 

[300] 



October 

i/<?;r a little and there a little. — Isaiah 28 : 10. 

THERE are no such things as trifles in the 
biography of man. Drops make up the sea. 
Acorns cover the earth with oaks and the ocean 
with navies. Sands make up the bar in the har- 
bor's mouth, on which vessels are wrecked ; and 
little things in youth accumulate into character in 
age, and destiny in eternity. If you cannot be 
a great river, bearing great vessels of blessing 
to the world, you can be a little spring by the 
wayside of life, singing all the day and all the 
night, and giving a cup of cold water to every 
weary, thirsty one who passes by. Life is made up 
of little things. He who travels over a continent 
must go step by step. He who writes books must 
do it sentence by sentence. What is the happiness 
of our life made up of ? Little courtesies, little 
kindnesses, pleasant words, genial smiles, a friendly 
letter, good wishes, and good deeds. One in 
a million — once in a lifetime — may do a heroic 
action ; but the little things that make up our life 
come every day and every hour. If we make the 
little events of life beautiful and good, then is 
the whole life full of beauty and goodness. 

ROYAL PATH OF LIFE. 

See that you have enough of the little virtues and 
common fidelities, and you need not mourn because 
you are neither a renowned hero nor a saint. 

[301] 



October 

This is my Beloved and this is my Friend. — Song of Solo- 
mon 5:16. 

Calvary. 
Under an Eastern sky, 
Amid a rabble's cry, 
A man went forth to die 

For me. 
Thorn-crowned His blessed head, 
Blood-stained His every tread ; 
Cross-laden, on he sped, 

For me. 
Pierced glow His hands and feet, 
Three hours o'er Him beat 
Fierce rays of noon-tide heat 

For me. 
Thus were Thou made all mine : 
Lord make me wholly Thine ; 
Grant grace and strength divine 

To me. 
In thought, and word, and deed 
Thy will to do. Oh, lead 
My soul, e'en though it bleed, 

To Thee. boston pilot. 

He who was the holiest among the mighty, and 
the mightiest among the holy, has, with His pierced 
hand, lifted heathenism off its hinges, and turned 
the dolorous and accursed centuries into new chan- 
nels, and now governs the ages. richter. 
[302] 



October 

®toentv=mntt) 2Da£ 

JVozv no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
grievoits : nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 
Hebrews 12 : II. 

THOSE who are now at rest were once like our- 
selves. They were once weak, faulty, sinful ; 
they had their burdens and hindrances, their slum- 
bering and weariness, their failures and their falls. 
But now they have overcome. Their life was once 
homely and commonplace. Their day ran out like 
ours. Morning and noon and night came and 
went to them as to us. Their life, too, was as 
lonely and sad as yours. Little fretful circum- 
stances and frequent disturbing changes wasted 
away their hours as yours. There is nothing in 
your life that was not in theirs ; there was nothing 
in theirs but may be also in your own. They have 
overcome, each one, and one by one ; each in his 
turn, when the day came, and God called him to 
the trial. And so shall you likewise. 

H. E. MANNING. 

Around me, like a silver bell 

Rung down the listening sky to tell 
Of holy help, a sweet voice fell. 

" Still hope and trust," it sang ; " the rod 
Must fall, the wine-press must be trod, 
But all is possible with God ! " 

WHITTIER. 

[303] 



October 

tEt)trttetl) 2Da^ 

I have chosen the way of truth. — Psalm 119: 30. 

Truth. 

THE seat of truth is in our secret hearts, 
Not in the tongue, which falsehood oft 
imparts. brandon. 

Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, 
The eternal years of God are hers ; 

But error, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies among his worshippers. 

BRYANT. 

His yea is Yea forevermore ! 

MARGARET I. PRESTON. 

No power can die that ever wrought for truth. 

J. R. LOWELL. 

God js the author of truth, the devil the father 
of lies. If the telling of a truth shall endanger 
thy life, the Author of truth will protect thee from 
danger, or reward thee for thy damage. If the 
telling of a lie may secure thy life, the father of 
lies will beguile thee of thy gains, or traduce the 
security. Better by losing of a life to save it, than 
by saving of a life to lose it. However, better 
thou perish than the truth. 

[304] 



SDctober 

And the work of righteousness shall be peace ; and the effect 
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. — Isaiah 
32: 17. 

AH ! why by passing clouds oppressed, 
Should vexing thoughts distract thy breast : 
Turn thou to Him in every pain, 
Whom suppliant never sought in vain ; 
Thy strength in joy's ecstatic day, 
Thy hope, when joy has passed away. 

H. F. LYTE. 

We have only to be patient, to pray, and to do 
His will, according to our present light and strength, 
and the growth of the soul will go on. The plant 
grows in the mist and under clouds as truly as under 
sunshine. So does the heavenly principle within. 

W. E. CHANNING. 

Reparation. 

In the midnight darkness deep, 

Shrouding all my room, 
Somewhere tender violets 

Hide their purple bloom. 

Darker, softer, grows the night, 

Deeper still the gloom; 
Penetrating, rich, intense, 

Breathes the blest perfume. 

GRACE DUFFIELD GOODWIN. 
[305] 



9 

His mercy endure th for ever. — Psalm 107: I. 

0TAR of heaven to light our pathway, 
Word our fainting souls to cheer, 
Peace to calm our sad forebodings 

When our spirits shrink with fear, — 
Courage for renewed endeavor 

When our failures we deplore — 
" God's great mercy still endureth 
Now and always, evermore." 

Calm assurance for misgiving 

When we falter by the way, 
Sweet reply to anxious questions 

When we know not what we say, 
Strength and wisdom for our guidance, 

Word of truth from heaven's lore, 
Given for our consolation, — 

" Mercy stands forever more." 

Like a heavenly benediction 

Falling on us from above, 
Sinking deep in every spirit, 

Are those precious words of love ; 
And the message thrills us ever 

As we whisper o'er and o'er, 
" O the mercy pure, transcendent — 

Which endures forever more ! " 
[306] 




^M ©.<(!' mfe<g 



\ 



jl^otiember 

In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ■ 
Colossians 2 : 9. 



L 



AY hold of Christ with both your poor, empty 
hands. Elizabeth prentiss. 



Every day we see something new in Christ. His 
love hath neither brim nor bottom. 

We may have as much of God as we will. Christ 
puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, 
and bids us take all we want. If a man is admitted 
into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help 
himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault 
is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Chris- 
tian people generally have such scanty portions of 
the fine riches of God? McLaren. 

Thou, O most compassionate, 
Who didst stoop to our estate, 
Drinking of the cup we drain, 
Treading in our path of pain, 
Through the doubt and mystery, 
Grant to us Thy steps to see, 
And the grace to draw from thence 
Larger hope and confidence. 
Show Thy vacant tomb and let 
As of old the angels sit 
Whispering by its open door, 
" Fear not, He hath gone before." 

WHITTIER. 
[3°7] 



®i)trD Dap 

To die is gain. — Philippians 1 : 21. 

If a man die he shall live again. — Leviticus 18 : 5. 

WE are glad for those who go, going forth by 
permission by the door of life and death. We 
are glad for those whose work is completed ; who 
rest from it ; whose life is purified upon this sphere, 
and begins to blossom in the other. We rejoice 
that Thou art taking from out of the company of 
sinful men, and from the midst of troubles in this 
life, one and another into the dear delights of their 
Father's kingdom, and that they that sang here are 
to-day singing more sweetly above. beecher. 

If one had watched a prisoner many a year, 
Standing behind a barred window-pane, 
Fettered with heavy hand-cuff and with chain, 
And gazing on the blue sky, far and clear ; 
And suddenly some morning he should hear 
The man in the night had contrived to gain 
His freedom, and was safe, would this bring pain ? 
Ah, would it not to dullest heart appear 
Good tidings ? 

Yesterday I looked on one 
Who lay as if asleep in perfect peace. 
His long imprisonment for life was done. 
Eternity's great freedom his release 
Had brought. Yet they who loved him called him 

dead, 
And wept, refusing to be comforted. h. b. m. 

[308] 



IFourtl) E>a? 

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul 
after thee, O God. — Psalm 42: 1. 

IN the soul the elements of decay do not enter — 
it longs for things immortal ; it perpetuates 
nationalities, and builds pyramids to the skies ; its 
nature is instinctively far-reaching and goes out in 
its longings after the eternal — the Infinite ; its 
powers develop themselves while striving to build 
something lasting, which shall survive the wrecks of 
time. The soul continually longs for something 
beyond its reach ; it even longs for a perfection 
which will satisfy its ideal, and is never satisfied — 
is ever restless. Death is the point where Divinity 
claims its own — eternity dawns on the soul in its 
grandeur at last ; the mortal has put on immortal- 
ity — that which was inherent still remains. Death 
is the portal where the soul and body part forever, 
from which the soul wings its flight to its future 
abode. 

God only is the creature's home, 
Though long and rough the road ; 

Yet nothing less can satisfy 
The love that longs for God. 

How little of that road, my soul, 

How little hast thou gone ! 
Take heart, and let the thought of God 

Allure thee further on. 

[3°9] 



^ofoember 

jfiftl) 2Pa? 

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. - 
Isaiah 66: 13. 

LIKE a cradle, rocking, rocking, 
Silent, peaceful, to and fro, 
Like a mother's sweet looks dropping 
On the little face below, 
Hangs the green earth, swinging, turning, 
Jarless, noiseless, safe, and slow ; 
Falls the light of God's face bending 
Down and watching us below. 

And as feeble 'babes that suffer, 
Toss and cry and will not rest, 
Are the ones the tender mother 
Holds the closest, loves the best ; 
So when we are weak and wretched, 
By our sins weighed down, distressed, 
Then it is that God's great patience 
Holds us closest, loves us best. 

O great heart of God ! whose loving 
Cannot hindered be or crossed, 
Will not weary, will not even 
In our death itself be lost — 
Love divine ! of such great loving, 
Only mothers know the cost — 
Cost of love, which all love passing, 
Gave a Son to save the lost. 

SAXE HOLM. 

[310] 



Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
there is no work, nor device, nor knozuledge, nor wisdom in 
the grave. — Ecclesiastes 9 : 10. 

ONE secret act of self-denial, one sacrifice of 
inclination to duty, is worth all the mere 
good thoughts, warm feelings, passionate prayers, 
in which idle people indulge themselves. 

NEWMAN. 

Without a diligent and faithful obedience to the 
calls and claims of others upon us, our religious 
profession is simply dead. Neglect of charitable 
offices will miserably darken our own hearts, and 
hide the face of God from us. h. e. manning. 

We mean to do it : some day, some day, 
We mean to slacken this fevered rush 

That is wearing our very souls away, 
And grant to our goaded hearts a hush 

That is holy enough to let them hear 

The footsteps of angels drawing near. 

The day we dreamed of comes at length, 
When, tired of every mocking guest, 

And broken in spirit and shorn of strength, 
We drop, indeed, at the door of rest j 

And wait, and watch, as the days wane on — 

But the angels we meant to call are gone. 

MARGARET J. PRESTON. 
[3"] 



g>eimttf) 2Pa^ 

/ have trodden the wine press alone. — Isaiah 63 : 3. 
Surely he hath borne our sorrows. — Isaiah 53:4. 

LIFE'S battles thou must fight all single-handed, 
</ No friend, however dear, can bear thy pain. 
No other soul can ever bear thy burdens, 
No other hand for thee the prize may gain. 

Lonely we journey through this vale of sorrow, 
No heart, in full, respondeth to our own ; 

Each one alone must meet his own to-morrow, 
Each one must tread the weary way alone. 

Ah ! weary heart ! why art thou sad and lonely ? 

Why this vain longing for an answering sigh ? 
Thy griefs, thy longings, trials and temptations 

Are known and felt by Him who reigns on high. 

ANNA HOLYOKE HOWARD. 

An hour of solitude, passed in sincere and ear- 
nest prayer in conflict with, and conquest over, a 
single passion or subtle bosom sin, will teach us 
more of thought, will more effectually awaken the 
faculty and form the habit of reflection than a 
year's study in the schools without them. 

COLERIDGE. 

By all means, use sometimes to be alone ; 

Salute thyself, see what thy soul doth wear ; 
Dare to look in thy chest, for 'tis thine own — 
And tumble up and down whate'er thou findest 
there. Herbert. 

[312] 



Ciglitt) a>a? 

If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons ; for 
zvhat son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? — Hebrews 
12:7. 

GOD is as incapable of being indifferent towards 
His lost mankind, as is a mother towards her 
lost child. Lost mankind are not only His lost, 
but His lost children. Does not the Source of all 
hearts feel? And is He not concerned for His lost? 
In the Divinity of indifference I cannot believe. I 
could far more easily believe that the Divine Heart 
carries a huge grief; and that "the Man of Sor- 
rows " only partially represents the tenderness of 
Infinite Love. In human hearts, in mother's love, 
in angelic love, and in the person of Jesus, the 
affections of God have a wide and wonderful revela- 
tion ; but what the Divine Affections are in their 
Fountain-head must be beyond all revealing and 
conceiving. pulsford. 

God liveth ever ! 
Wherefore, soul, despair thou never ! 
What though thou treadest with bleeding feet 

A thorny path of grief and gloom, 
Thy God will choose the way most meet 
To lead thee heavenward, lead thee home. 

For this life's long night of sadness 

He will give thee peace and gladness ; 

Soul, forget not in thy pains 

Good o'er all forever reigns. zibu. 

[313] 



jfeobember 

i|5mtl) SDap 

My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. — 
Exodus 33 : 14. 

HOW shall we rest in God? By giving our- 
selves wholly to Him. If you give yourself 
by halves you cannot find full rest ; there will ever 
be a lurking disquiet in that half which is withheld. 
Martyrs and saints have tested this rest "and 
counted themselves happy in that they endured." 
A countless host of God's faithful servants have 
drunk deeply of it under the daily burden of a 
weary life — dull, commonplace, painful, or deso- 
late. All that God has been to them He is ready 
to be to you. The heart once fairly given to God, 
with a clear conscience, a fitting rule of life, and a 
steadfast purpose of obedience, you will find a 
wonderful sense of rest coming over you. 

JEAN NICHOLAS GROU. 

By Thine unerring Spirit led, 

We shall not in the desert stray ; 

We shall not full direction need, 
Nor miss our providential way ; 

As far from danger as from fear 

While love, Almighty love, is near. 

CHARLES WESLEY. 

With God for my friend I pass through my life in 
peace. In fellowship with Him I find a rest from 
all earthly dangers and fatigues. 

[314] 



Member 

tEtntt) E>a£ 

The Lord shall lift you up. — S. James 4: 10. 

Lift Me Higher. 

LIFT me higher, O my Saviour, 
As I journey on my way, 
Help me over life's deep pitfalls, 
Draw me nearer day by day ; 
Lift me up from doubt and darkness, 

Let me feel Thy loving care, 
While I hear Thy tender accents 
Like a whisper in the air. 

Lift me from unworthy self-hood, 

Let me set my will aside 
While I measure Thy forbearance, 

While I count Thy mercies wide ; 
Every burden, every trial, 

Every sorrow I may feel, 
Every act of lowly service, — 

May they lift me higher still ! 

When I drink from broken cisterns 

Lead me to Thy living wells, 
Drop my bucket in the waters 

Where life's current freely swells ; 
That my thirsty, fainting spirit, 

Worn with toil and weary strife, 
May be lifted to salvation 

And to everlasting life. 

MARTHA CAPPS OLIVER. 

[315] 



$oi>embcr 

detentl) 2Da? 

Be ye angry and sin not : let not the sun go down upon your 
wrath. — Ephesians 4 : 26. 

" T)E angry and sin not!" — the easiest charge 
JLJ under the hardest condition that can be. 
He that will be angry and not sin, let him be angry 
at nothing but sin. j. trapp. 

" Forgiveness before sundown ! " He who never 
feels the throb of indignation is imbecile. He 
who can walk among the injustices of the world 
inflicted upon himself and others, without flush of 
cheek or flash of eye, or agitation of nature, is 
either in sympathy with wrong, or devoid of feel- 
ing. It all depends on what you are angry at, and 
how long the feeling lasts, whether anger is right 
or wrong. talmage. 

Anger becomes sinful if wrongly directed, or if 
there be an inadequate cause for it. A natural 
manifestation of indignation is manly, and is often 
absolutely necessary to resent an injury. 

A lesson which I well may heed, 
A word of fitness to my need. 

Search thine own heart. What paineth thee 
In others in thyself may be ; 
All dust is frail, all flesh is weak ; 
Be thou the man that thou dost seek. 

[316] WHITTIER. 



©toelftl) 2Dap 

Yet a little while and he that shall come will come, and will 
not tarry. — Hebrews 10 : 37. 

GOD comes to His people in an undisclosed 
and unrecognized form, in the hours of their 
despondency. That which seems to us to be a 
cloud and darkness is, after all, but fhe garment 
in the midst of which Christ is walking. All right 
occupations, all duties, all fidelities, bring along 
with them a divine presence. We are never alone. 
The most menial callings, routine, occupations, 
things not agreeable in themselves, but necessary, 
and things of duty, all of them have or .may have 
with them a Christ. 

I cannot think but God must know 
About the thing I long for so ; 
I know He is so good, so kind, 
I cannot think but He will find 

Some way to help, some way to show 
Me to the thing I long for so. 

SAXE HOLM. 

Patiently wait, for His steps will not tarry, 
Patiently listen — He cometh apace ; — 

" Only a little time " — thou who art weary, 
Then shalt behold Him and gaze on His face. 

All thou hast longed for He brings at His coming ; 

Down the dim ages Thy gift cometh sure, 
See that thy hands are made fit to receive it, 

See that thy heart and thy spirit are pure. 

[317] M - c - °- 



j&o&ember 

Wfyittttnty Day 

Mighty to save. — Isaiah 63 : I. 

JESUS CHRIST takes men, not because they are 
clean, but because they are willing to be taken. 
He takes them in all their poorness and leanness, 
and irregularities, and says, " I am willing to carry 
you and bear with you through your whole life if 
I can see that in the end my affection and patience 
will bring you into the enjoyment of the eternal 
inheritance." It is the cleansing, forgiving, endur- 
ing, remedial love of Christ Jesus that gives a man 
hope. When wrong rises up in me I feel that there 
is something higher than that. It is the faithful- 
ness of Christ, and the wonderful power of Christ's 
love to redeem men from sin, that gives me hope. 

Mine is a day of fear and strife, 
A needy soul, a needy life, 
A needy world, a needy age ; 
Yet, in my perilous pilgrimage, 

I cast my soul on Thee, 

Mighty to save, even me, 

Jesus, Thou Son of God. 

To Thee I come ; ah ! only Thou 
Canst wipe the sweat from off this brow ; 
Thou, only Thou, canst make me whole, 
And soothe the fever of my soul ; 
I cast my soul on Thee, 
Mighty to save e'en me, 
Jesus, Thou Son of God. 
[318] 



jfourteentt) SDap 

Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. — I Samuel 7 : 12. 

WE are often speculating on what is to come. 
You who trust that you are God's children 
may take one answer as regards the coming years : 
you are going forth into nothing but goodness. I 
cannot say that you may not be going forth to meet 
trouble, toil, disappointment. It may be ; but if 
you are at God's side you are going forward to 
nothing but good. If the worst that you fear shall 
come to pass, you will find His goodness hidden 
in the very heart of the disaster. 

M. R. VINCENT. 

The years have taught me many things, 

But none so sure as this : 
That shelter, solace, joy, and strength 

Are always where God is. 

So now, when hope and courage fail, 

And only fear is strong, 
My heart will sing, as in the past, 

An unforgotten song. 

God is my refuge and my strength, 

I will not be afraid ; 
And though the night be wild and dark, 

I meet it undismayed. 

MARIANNE FARNINGHAM. 
[319] 



jfifteeuti) St>a^ 

The sufferings of this present time are not tvorthy to be com- 
pared with the glory which shall be revealed in tis. — Romans 
8:18. 

THERE come times in every life when men 
must undergo a crucial test. But the per- 
fection of Christian loyalty is to trust God even 
though He slays us through those affections and 
desires that are dearest to us. 

How blest is that man who receives every pain 
and trouble as a divine messenger sent by his 
Heavenly Father, and so enters into a fuller fel- 
lowship and sympathy with his Saviour ! 

What will it matter, by and by, 

Whether with cheek to cheek I've lain 
Close by the pallid angel, Pain ; 

Soothing myself through sob and sigh ? 

" All will be elsewise by and by ! " 

What will it matter? Naught, if I 
Only am sure the way I've trod, 
Gloomy or gladdened, leads to God ; 

Questioning not of the how, the why, 
If I but reach Him, by and by. 

Ah ! it will matter, by and by, 

Nothing but this — that joy or pain 
Lifted me skyward, helped me gain, 
Whether through rack or smile or sigh, 
Heaven, — home, — all in all, by and by ! 

HELEN HUNT JACKSON. 
[320] 



&ixttmt\) Dap 

Thy thoughts shall be established. — Psalm 16:3. 

ONE thought I have, my ample creed, 
So deep it is and broad, 
And equal to my every need, — 
It is the thought of God. 

At night my gladness is my prayer ; 

I drop my daily load, 
And every care is pillowed there 

Upon the thought of God. 

Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts. 
None of us yet know what fairy palaces we may 
build of beautiful thought — proof against all ad- 
versity. Bright fancies, satisfied memories, noble 
histories, faithful sayings, treasure-houses of pre- 
cious and restful thoughts, which care cannot dis- 
turb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty take away 
from us, — houses built without hands, for our souls 
to live in. ruskin. 

The truth and sincerity of God to His people 
appears in the openness and plainness of His 
thought as He makes it known to them. A friend 
who is reserved naturally comes under a cloud in 
the thoughts of his companions, but he who carries 
a window of crystal in his breast delivers himself 
from all suspicion of unfaithfulness. And thus is 
God open-hearted to His saints. 

[321] 



g>etoenteenrt) Dap 

There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
have passed azvay. — Revelation 21:4. 

METHOUGHT I walked along a pleasant way, 
Sunlight and shadow flecking leaf and sod, 
And, hand in my hand, was one beside me 
trod, 
Her fair face adding brightness to the day. 

Sudden we came upon a hidden door, 

And she that walked beside me passed within, 
Nor did return. But where she late had been 

There came a voice that clamored " Nevermore !" 

That Voice I knew ; but straightway, seemingly, 
From the shut door a gentle echo rung, 
And " Evermore ! " still " Evermore ! " it sung, 

And ever softer and more dreamingly. 

God of the living ! from within the door — 
No echo — came that blest word " Evermore ! " 

JOHN W. CHADWICK. 

And even now we may anticipate the glory of 
that time when "there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow nor crying." If we keep the city 
of our heart holy with the presence of a living 
Christ we may believe that they are even now with 
us in sympathy and sweet communion, and that it 
is not death, but fulness of life upon which they 
have entered through the door of the grave. 

[322] 



The Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. — 
Psalm 6:3. 

CONSECRATION is not wrapping one's self 
in a holy web in the sanctuary, and then 
coming forth after prayer and twilight meditation 
and saying, "There, I am consecrated." Conse- 
cration is going out in the world where God is, and 
using every power for His glory. It is taking all 
advantages as trust funds, as confidential debts 
owed to God. It is simply dedicating one's life 
in its whole flow to God's service, bible studies. 

Take my soul and body's powers ; 

Take my memory, mind, and will, 
All my goods and all my hours ; 

All I know and all I feel ; 
All I think, or speak, or do ; 
Take my heart but make it new. 

Now, O God, Thine own I am, 

Now I give Thee back Thine own ; 

Freedom, friends, and health and fame, 
Consecrate to Thee alone ; 

Thine I live, thrice happy I ; 

Happier still if Thine I die. 

CHARLES WESLEY. 

God wants more than our money — He wants 
ourselves. If self is consecrated, that will settle 
all else. 

[323] 



0mtmitt) H>a|> 

My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made 
perfect in xveakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather 
glory in my infirmities. — 2 Corinthians 12:9. 

DR. GEORGE MATHERSON of Scotland is 
totally blind, and yet he is one of the most 
learned and gifted men in all Britain. The fol- 
lowing touching words from his pen ought to 
strengthen the Christian patience of God's afflicted 
children : " My God, I have never thanked Thee 
for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand 
times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I 
have been looking forward to a world where I shall 
receive compensation for my cross, but I have 
never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. 
Thou, Divine Love, whose human path has been 
perfected through sufferings, teach me the glory 
of my cross ; teach me the value of my thorn. 
Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path 
of pain. Show me that my tears have made my 
rainbow. Reveal to me that my strength was the 
product of the hour when I wrestled until the break 
of day. Then shall I know that my thorn was 
blessed by Thee. 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ; 
Even though it be a cross 

That raiseth me. 

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS. 

[3 2 4] 



Hold me up and I shall be safe. — Psalm 119: 117. 

WHEN on my day of life the night is falling, 
And in the winds from unsunned spaces 
blown, 
I hear far voices out of darkness calling 
My feet to paths unknown. 

Thou who hast made my home of life so pleasant, 
Leave not its tenant when its walls decay ; 

Love divine, O Helper ever present, 
Be Thou my strength and stay ! 

Be near me when all else is from me drifting — 
Earth, sky, home's picture, days of shade and 
shine, 

And kindly faces to my own uplifting 
The love which answers mine. 

Suffice it if my good and ill unreckoned, 

And both forgiv'n through Thy abounding grace, 

1 find myself by hands familiar beckoned 

Unto my fitting place. 

Some humble door among Thy many mansions, 
Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease, 

And flows forever through heaven's green expansions, 
The river of Thy peace. 



[325] 



iiiJofcentibet: 

Thou art my hiding-place ; thou shalt preserve me from 
trouble ; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliver- 
ance. — Psalm 32 : 7. 

CHRIST is the " hiding-place from the wind," 
the " covert from the tempest," the " Great 
Rock " in a weary land. He hides His own in the 
cleft of the rock till danger be past. He shelters 
them when the tempest rages. He defends them 
when assaulted by temptation, and covers their 
defenceless heads in the day of battle. Fleeing to 
the Refuge, they find ample protection, and are 
made to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 
No wind can blight them there ; no tempest dis- 
turb the serenity of their souls. Almighty love is 
their refuge ; incarnate mercy is their solace, life, 
and repose. barrow. 

I know not what my life shall hold 

Of love, or light ; 
Only, that safe within the fold, 
It shall be right. 

I only seek to find the ways 

His feet have pressed ; 
And feel, through dark or fairer days ? 

" He knoweth best." 

All my trust on Thee is stayed, 
All my help from Thee I bring ; 

Cover my defenceless head 
With the shadow of Thy wing ! 

[326] CHARLES WESLEY. 



When my father and mother forsake me. — Psalm 27 : 10. 

BACKWARD, turn backward, O Time, in your 
flight, 
Make me a child again, just for to-night ! 
Mother, come back from the echoless shore, 
Take me again to your heart as of yore ; 
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, 
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair ; 
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep — 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep ! 

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years ! 
I am so weary of toil and of tears — 
Toil without recompense — tears all in vain — 
Take them, and give me my childhood again ! 
I have grown weary of dust and decay — 
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away ; 
Weary of sowing for others to reap — 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep ! 



1 ! 



Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, 
Mother, O Mother, my heart calls for you ; 
Many a summer the grass has grown green, 
Blossomed and faded, our faces between ; 
Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain, 
Long I to-night for your presence again. 
Come from the silence so long and so deep — 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep ! 

FLORENCE PERCY. 
[327] 



tfftoentE=tl)ira 2Pa? 

The upright shall dwell in thy presence. — Psalm in : 13. 

SOME Christians seem to think that they must 
be always going up to mounts of extraordinary 
joy and revelation. This is not after God's method. 
Those spiritual visits to high places, and that won- 
derful intercourse with the unseen world are not 
in the promises ; the daily life of invisible com- 
munion is; and it is enough. We shall have the 
exceptional revelation if it be right for us. No one 
can stay on the mount of privilege. There are 
duties in the valley. j. vaughn. 

There were but three disciples allowed to see the 
transfiguration, and those three entered the gloom 
of Gethsemane. storrs. 

Oh, if this living soul, that many a time 
Above the low things of the earth doth climb 
Up to the mountain-top of faith sublime, — 

If she could only stay 

In that high place alway, 

And hear in reverence bowed 

God's voice behind the cloud ! 
Ah ! what a world were ours to journey through, 
What deeds of love and mercy we should do ; 
Making our lives so beautiful and true, 

That in our face would shine 

The light of love divine, 

Showing that we had stood 

Upon the mount of God. 

[328] PHCEBE CARY. 



$ot>emI>er 

®tomt^fottixl) SDai? 

Forgetting those things which are behind. — Philippians 1 : 13. 
Let the Grass Grow. 

LET the grass grow over your graves 
Of sorrow and sin and care ; 
Let the grass grow over your saddened shame, 

And your misery of despair ; 
Let the grass grow over your long-nursed woe, 

And the fear of that awful doubt ; 
Let the grass grow over the sin and the hate 
That brought the trouble about. 

There is a balm in forgetfulness. It heals all 
hurts and soothes all sorrows, and gives the soul 
time to grow strong again. We have sinned, we 
have suffered. Aye, but we have repented those 
sins in bitterness and tears. Now leave it all with 
the pitiful Father, and " forgetting the things which 
are behind, reach forth unto those things which are 
before." Sorrow, if too long indulged, enfeebles 
the soul. The best proof of our repentance of 
past sins is to try bravely to retrieve them, to sow 
flowers where we planted thorns — to be an active 
power for good. Sin is a terrible blot upon the 
life, but great is God's mercy to those who have 
repented, to those who fear Him. "As far as the 
east is from the west, so far hath he removed our 
transgressions from us." The trusting heart will 
show its gratitude for the blotting out of its sins by 
" forgetting those things which are behind." 
[329] 



They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. — He- 
brews n : 1 6. 

IF dying were to be thrust out of life into a land 
where we have no friends, where there are none 
that know us and where we know none, it would be 
a sad thing indeed. But if our names are known 
in heaven ; if they are written in the Lamb's Book 
of Life ; then heaven will be familiar to us, and 
dying will not be deplored. After this life is over 
heaven will seem to us like home. Our losses fly 
up there and become riches. We give to heavenly 
fields what we lose from earth. And the belief that 
in heaven our fathers have long dwelt, that we are 
going there ... is everlasting indeed. 

Who would not go 

With buoyant steps to gain that blessed portal 

Which opens to the land we long to know, 
Where shall be satisfied the souls immortal ; 
Where we shall drop the wearying and the woe 
In resting so ? 

Oh, wondrous land ! 

Fairer than all our spirits' fairest dreaming, 
" Eye hath not seen " — no heart can under- 
stand 
The things prepared, the cloudless radiance 
streaming. 
How longingly we wait our Lord's command, 
His opening hand ! 
[330] 



0oUmhtt 

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; the name of the 
God of facob defend thee. — Psalm 20 : I . 

WHAT wish could be more sympathetic or 
more consolatory, " The Lord hear thee 
in the day of trouble" ! And who is there of the 
sons of men to whom " a day of trouble " does not 
come, whose path is not darkened at times ? " Few 
plants," says old Jacomb, " have both morning and 
evening sun " ; and one far older than he said, 
"Man is born to trouble." "A day of trouble," 
then, is the heritage of every child of Adam, but 
there is One who can sustain us. 

BARTON BOUCHIER. 

How precious, then, is the promise, " I will hear 
thee in the day of trouble " ! It is the prayer of 
another in behalf of some troubled one, and yet 
it implies that the troubled one himself had also 
prayed. 

When I tread life's weary path, 
Give me faith, O Lord, to see 
In the trials that surround me 
Naught but Thee. 

When I reach the valley dark 
Give me eyes, O Lord, to see 
In that cloud of awful darkness 
Round me — Thee. 

[331] 



He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth 
much fruit. — S. John 15:5. 

WHEN we see the multitude of Christ's peo- 
ple, all united in Him, all drawing sap 
and life and strength and fruitfulness from Him, 
what can more beautifully represent Jesus and His 
people than the rich vine and the fruitful branches ? 
The best evidence of the Christian life is " more 
fruit." That is the meaning of the pruning and 
girdling, as well as the milder agencies of His 
grace and goodness. Chastisements are occa- 
sional ; ' God's goodness constant. Bearing fruit 
is the business of the Christian life. And however 
God may endure barrenness out of the church, yet 
He will never endure it in the church. To be 
a bramble or a weed where we should be fruitful 
branches, will the Great Husbandman endure this? 
Whatsoever is not for fruit is for fire. Ye are God's 
husbandry. 

Sower divine, 
Sow the good seed in me, 
Seed for eternity. 
'Tis but a rough, barren soil, 
Yet by Thy care and toil, 
Make it a fruitful field, 
An hundred fold to yield. 
Sower divine, 

Sow deep this heart of mine. 
[332] 



tIDtoent£=etgl)tl) ar>a? 

God, who giveth richly all things to enjoy. — I Timothy 6:17. 

GOOD, grand, old-fashioned Thanksgiving Day- 
has come. . . . Through the gates of this 
morning it came, carrying on one shoulder a sheaf 
of wheat, and on the other a shock of corn. 
"Children, in holiday dress, hold up their hands to 
bless it, and old age goes out to welcome it, asking 
that it come in, and by the altars of God rest 
awhile. Come in, O day fragrant with a thousand 
memories, and borne down under the weight of 
innumerable mercies, and tell to our thankful hearts 
how great is the goodness of God. talmage. 

We should remember past mercies and blessings. 
If we do, our past will shine down upon us like 
a clear sky full of stars. Such remembering will 
keep the gratitude ever fresh in our hearts and the 
incense ever burning on the altar. Such a house 
of memory becomes a refuge to which we may flee 
in trouble. When sorrows gather thickly, when 
trials come, when the sun goes down and every star 
is quenched and there seems nothing left to our 
hearts in all the present, then the memory of a past 
full of goodness becomes a holy refuge for our souls. 

For summer's bloom and autumn's blight, 
For bending wheat and blasted maize, 

For health and sickness, Lord of light, 
And Lord of darkness, hear our praise. 

HOLLAND. 

[333] 



They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which 
cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. — Psalm 125 : 1. 

THE godly, though in affliction, are in a state 
infinitely better than the prosperous wicked. 
For God is the portion of the Christian, and he 
that hath God hath all. And even when in trouble, 
the godly are blessed of their sorrows in this world, 
in that He guides them by His counsel, and when 
He takes them out of it they are still happy, in 
that He receives them to glory. 

He who has God needs no other portion either 
in heaven or upon earth. Jonathan edwards. 



He fought his doubts and gather'd strength, 
He would not make his judgment blind, 
He faced the spectres of the mind 
And laid them. tennyson. 



I will not doubt. Well anchored in this faith 
Like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale ; 
So strong its courage that it will not quail 
To breast the mighty, unknown sea of death. 
Oh ! may I cry, though body parts with spirit, 
" I do not doubt," so listening worlds may hear it, 
With my last breath. 

[334] 



®t)irttetl) SPag 

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
son whom he receiveth. — Hebrews 12:6. 

GREATEST proof of love is this, that I press 
near the inmost heart of Him I love, and am 
permitted with Him to bear some of His own 
heart's sorrow. I can be called by His name when 
I drink the cup with Him. "Bitter" is it? Yes, 
bitter; yet not so bitter as to be denied His 
presence. Sweet is the pain itself when it knits 
into closer sympathy my Saviour and me ! Oh, the 
unfolding, the transforming power of love ! 

My share ! No deed of house or spreading lands, 

As I had dreamed ; no measure 
Heaped up with gold ; my Elder Brother's hands 

Had never held such treasure. 
Foxes have holes and birds in nests are fed — 
My Brother had not where to lay His head. 

My share ! The right like Him to know all pain 
Which hearts are made for knowing ; 

The right to find in loss the surest gain ; 
To reap my joy from sowing 

In bitter tears ; the right with Him to keep 

A watch by day and night with those who weep. 

Now through my tears I call to each, " Joint heir 
With Christ, make haste to ask Him for thy share ! " 

HELEN HUNT JACKSON. 
[335] 



%>ztzmbzt 

Sfirst spa? 

I will give you rest. — S. Matthew n : 28. 

"V IV "HAT is it, child ? Art worn and weary ? 
CIS Ah, so was I. 

Art treading o'er a pathway dreary, 

Where shadows lie? 
The thorns spring up and pierce thy tender feet? 

I felt them too. 
Art grieving for the friends whose love was sweet, — 

Mine were untrue. 
Art tempted sorely from within and out ? 

I met it, child. 
Art battling 'gainst the sweeping tide of doubt 

'Mid darkness wild ? — 
I know it all, each heart-throb full of pain, 

Each hour of gloom, 
The blinding sweep of sorrow's heavy rain — 

The open tomb. 
Come unto Me and I will give you rest — 

I hear Him say — 
Lean thou with all thy care upon My breast, 

The better way 
Of blessedness — the high and holy life 

Is all for thee. 
My love will keep thee through the storm and strife, 

Rest thou in Me. 
[336] 




**Jy»* 



December 

g>econD sr>at> 

God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. — 
Psalm 73 : 26. 

GOING home ! Gathering there with soundless 
tread, which they only hear, are the innu- 
merable hosts of those whose robes have been 
washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. 
They are those over whom sin hath no more power, 
and death hath no more dominion. They are going 
through many doors, but they are all going home. 

"Ah ! could thy grave at home, at Carthage, be ! " — 
Care not for that, and lay me where I fall ! 
Everywhere heard will be the judgment call; 
But at God's altar, oh, remember me. 

Thus Monica, and died in Italy. 
Yet fervent had her longing been, through all 
Her course, for home at last, and burial 
With her own husband, by the Libyan sea. 

Had been ! but at the end, to her pure soul 
All tie with all beside seem'd vain and cheap, 
And union before God the only care. 

Creeds pass, rites change, no altar standeth whole, 
Yet we her memory, as she pray'd, will keep, 
Keep by this : Life in God, and union there ! 

MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
[337] 



December 

Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 
and have not love, I am nothing. — I Corinthians 13 : 12. 

BLESSED is the man who has the gift of making 
friends ; for it is one of God's best gifts. It 
involves many things, but above all, the power of 
going out of one's self, and seeing and appreciating 
whatever is noble and loving in another. 

THOMAS HUGHES. 

Rich in Love. 
And sweet humanity, he was, himself, 
To the degree that he desired, beloved. 

Love is its own perennial fount of strength. The 
strength of affection is a proof, not of the object, 
but of the largeness of the soul which loves. . . . 
Love descends, not ascends. f. w. Robertson. 

He prayeth best, who loveth best, 

All things both great and small ; 

For the dear God who loveth us, 

He made and loveth all. coleridge. 

To love is better than to be great, it is better 
than to be refined, it is better than to be wise. 
Love takes precedence of all prophecy, of every 
kind of knowledge, and of the gift of tongues ; love 
is higher than hope or faith, and is the very royalty 
of God. 

[338] 



December 

Jfouttlj SDa^ 

O woman, great is thy faith. — S. Matthew 15 : 28. 

"\A 7 OMAN, how great is thy faith ! I have not 
V V found so great faith, no, not in Israel," said, 
wonderingly, the highest authority whose lips ever 
found utterance on this earth, in reference to woman. 
And it is true : so marvellous and beautiful a thing 
as the faith of a woman who loves, nowhere else 
exists. Ordinarily, this wonder-working power is 
neither seen nor felt, and its existence is scarcely 
noted ; but let a sudden emergency come, and it 
springs, full grown, and like a guardian spirit, to 
the side of the stricken one, and its confident whis- 
per sustains amid the din of a hundred accusing 

Voices. JENNIE JUNE. 

Fain would I hold my lamp of life aloft 

Like yonder tower built high above the reef; 

Steadfast, though tempests rave or winds blow soft, 
Clear, though the sky dissolve in tears of grief. 

For darkness passes ; storms shall not abide. 

A little patience and the fog is past. 
After the sorrow of the ebbing tide 

The singing flood returns in joy at last. 

The night is long and pain weighs heavily ; 

But God will hoM His world above despair. 
Look to the east, where up the lucid sky 

The morning climbs ! The day shall yet be fair. 

CELIA THAXTER. 

[339] 



December 

jftftt) ar>a? 

I am going the way of all the earth. — Joshua 23 : 14. 
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. — Job 7 : 6. 
The house appointed for all the living. — Job 30: 23. 

AS in our advance we leave earthly things behind 
us, may all the sweet influences of the other 
world come forth to meet us ; and if we are coming 
upon the other world in the darkness of the night, 
may we have foretastes and sweet-wafted premoni- 
tions to cheer us in the dark passage. 

Up Hill. 

Does the road wind up hill all the way? 

Yes, to the very end. 
Will the day's journey take the whole day long? 

From morn to night, my friend. 

But is there for the night a resting-place? 

A roof for when the slow dark hours begin ? 
May not the darkness hide it from my face ? 

You cannot miss that inn. 

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night ? 

Those who have gone before. 
Then must I knock or call when just in sight ? 

They will not keep you standing at the door. 

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? 

Of labor you shall find thB sum. 
Will there be beds for me and all who seek ? 

Yes, beds for all who come. 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 
[34o] 



December 

gwttj soap 

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. — 
Genesis 22 : 14. 

TEHOVAH-JIREH means " The Lord will pro- 
J vide." 

Write deep in your heart this day this word of 
sublime confidence, Jehovah-jireh. It tells you 
that you can trust God always, that no promise of 
His ever fails, that He doeth all things well, that 
out of all seeming loss and destruction of human 
hopes He brings blessing. You have not passed 
this way heretofore. There will be joys and sor- 
rows, failures and successes. You cannot forecast 
individual experiences. You cannot see a step 
before your feet. Yet Jehovah-jireh calls you to 
enter the new year with calm trust. miller. 

I care not what the approaching year brings, if 
it results only in good. I care not though it may 
be undriven like a chariot whose driver has been 
thrown to the ground, if God only sits and holds 
the coursers of Time. If God is in the chariot, I 
care not what else is in it or around it. If God 
will take care of my thoughts and feelings ; if He 
will mark out my ways and lead me in them ; if 
He will appoint my burdens ; if He will give to my 
faith the vision of eternal life ; if He will touch and 
refine my affections ; if He will direct my aspira- 
tions toward heavenly estate, I shall be content, and 
shall rejoice in whatever scenes I may be called to 
pass through. phillips brooks. 

[341] 



December 

This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide 
even unto death. — Psalm 48 : 14. 

WE have often to travel solitary ways. Some 
of us have perplexed paths to tread. 
Some of us have sad memories of times when we 
journeyed in company with those who will never 
share our tent or counsel or steps any more, and, 
as we sit lonely by our watch-fire in the wilderness, 
we have aching hearts and silent nights. Some of 
us may be as yet rich in companions and helpers, 
whose words are wisdom, whose wishes are love to 
us, and may tremble to think that after a while 
they or we shall have to tramp on by ourselves. 
There is a Presence which never departs, which 
moves before us as we journey, and hovers over us 
as a shield when we rest ; a cloud to veil the sun 
that it smite us not by day, and a pillar of flame 
as the night falls, being ever brightest when we 
need it most, and burning clearest of all in the 
valley at the end, where its guidance will only 
cease, because then " the Lamb that is in the 
midst of the throne will lead them." 

ALEXANDER McLAREN. 

The soul that walks with God upon the heights 

Hath secrets voiceless to the alien air ; 

To him who is of God, the things of God are clear. 

[342] 



December 

Whoso trusteth hi the Lord, happy is he. — Proverbs 1 6 : 20. 

TIRED fathers, weary mothers, when is your 
happy day coming? Long since you ex- 
pected it to dawn. It is not here yet, nor will it 
ever be so long as you do not determine that it 
shall be to-day. This failure to take comfort as 
you pass along life's pathway, but ever looking 
forward for all enjoyment of good, is throwing 
away the real sweets of life. You may as well 
attempt to store up summer sunshine to warm in 
winter, or bottle moonshine for cloudy nights. 
The jal and only true way is to find in the pres- 
ent all the good God gives us. Our whole lives 
may be filled with joy if we are only willing to 
learn that in all good work there is profit, in all 
sorrow there are some rays of sunshine, and in 
all care some compensation. Make the most of 
to-day. BIBLE STUDIES. 

If thou art blest, 
Then let the sunshine of thy gladness rest 
On the dark edges of each cloud that lies 
Black in thy brothers' skies. 

If thou art sad 
Still be thou in thy brothers' gladness glad. 

Gold hath its roses, blue skies a cloud, 
Fortune a fall, and hope a shroud ; 
But Trust upon its mountain height, 
Reflects a ray of heaven's own light. 
[343] 



December 

Why stand ye here all the day idle ? — S. Matthew 20 : 6. 

A LAZY Christian shall always want four things, 
viz. : Comfort, content, confidence, and assur- 
ance. God hath made a separation between joy 
and idleness, between assurance and laziness, and 
therefore it is impossible for thee to bring these 
together. t. brooks. 

Jacob saw the angels, some ascending, others 
descending, but none standing still. God hath 
made Behemoth to play in the water, not so men ; 
they must be doing, that will keep with God. 

JOHN TRAPP. 

He who God's will has borne and done, 
And his own restless longings stilled ; 

What else he does, or has foregone, 
His mission he has well fulfilled. 

FROM THE GERMAN. 

Cheered by the presence of God, I will do at 
each moment, without anxiety, according to the 
strength which He shall give me, the work that His 
providence assigns me. I will leave the rest with- 
out concern ; it is not my affair. I ought to con- 
sider the duty to which I am called each day, as 
the work that God has given me to do, and to 
apply myself to it in a manner worthy of His glory, 
that is to say, with exactness and in peace. 

FENELON. 

[344] 



December 

And there shall be no night there ; and they need no candle, 
neither light of the 'sun ; for the Lord giveth them light. — 
Revelation 22 : 5. 

IT is winter here and we are frost-bitten or ice- 
clad. It will be summer there, and we shall 
be in fragrant blossom and glorious leaf. To us 
here the glory of God shines as the sun shines in a 
cloudy day. Now it is hidden altogether ; now a 
procession of clouds pass over it, and there comes 
through them a fitful, checkered light ; and now it 
is disclosed to full view. But there is a place 
where the glory of God shall be an uninterrupted 
stream, which shall be so clear, so apparent, that 
we shall live in the presence of it. . . . We shall 
see Him as He is, for there is no night there. 

BEECHER. 



Oh, where the living waters flow, 

Along that radiant shore, 
My soul, a wanderer here, shall know 

The exile thirst no more. 
And, borne on eagle's wings afar, 

Free thought shall claim its dower, 
From every realm, from every star, 

Of glory and of power. 

MRS. F. D. HEMANS. 
[345] 



December 

(LDletettf) 2Da^ 

Cast down but not destroyed. — 2 Corinthians 4: 9. 

THE cloud of trial while it drops, Christian, is 
rolling over thy head, and then comes fair 
weather with eternal sunshine of glory. " Canst 
thou not watch with Christ one hour? " 

GURNALL. 

Think how completely all the griefs of this 
mortal life will be compensated by one age, of the 
felicities beyond the grave, and then think that one 
age multiplied by ten thousand times is not so 
much to eternity as one grain of sand to the whole 
material universe. john foster. 

Count each affliction, whether light or grave, 
God's messenger sent down to thee. Do thou 
With courtesy receive him ; rise and bow 

And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave 

Permission for his heavenly feet to lave ; 
Then lay before Him all thou hast ; allow 
No cloud of passion to usurp thy brow 

Or mar thy hospitality, no wave 

Of mortal tumult to obliterate 

The soul's marmoreal calmness : grief should be 

Like joy, — majestic, equable, sedate ; 

Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free ; 

Strong to consume small troubles ; to commend 

Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to 
the end. aubrey de vere. 

[346] 



December 

Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my 
days, zuhat it is ; that I may know how frail I am. — Psalm 
39:4. 

THEY are slipping away — these sweet, swift 
years, 

Like a leaf on the current cast ; 
With never a break in the current flow, 
We watch them as one by one they go 

Into the beautiful past. 
As silent and swift as a weaver's thread, 

Or an arrow's flying gleam ; 
As soft as the languorous breezes bid, 
That lift the willow's long golden lid, 

And ripple the glassy stream. 
As light as the breath of the thistle-down, 

As fond as a lover's dream ; 
As pure as the flush in the sea-shell's throat, 
As sweet as the wood-bird's wooing note, 

So tender and sweet they seem. 
One after another we see them pass, 

Down the dim-lighted stair ; 
We hear the sound of their steady tread 
In the steps of the centuries long since dead, 

As beautiful and as fair. 
There are only a few years left ; ah, let 

No envious taunts be heard; 
Make life's fair pattern of rare design, 
And fill up the measure with love's sweet wine, 

But never an angry word. 
[347] 



December 

®l)ttteentt) ar>a^ 



N [ 



Fear not, little flock : for it is your Father 's good pleasure to 
give you the Kingdom. — S. Luke 12 : 32. 

fEW YEAR met me somewhat sad : 
Old Year leaves me tired. 
Stripped of favorite things I had, 

Balked of much desired : 
Yet further on my road to-day, 
God willing, further on my way. 

New Year coming on apace, 

What have you to give me ? 
Bring you scathe, or bring you grace, 

Face me with an honest face : 
You shall not deceive me : 
Be it good or ill, be it what you will, 
It needs shall help me on my road, 
My rugged way to heaven, please God ! 

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 

All of our courage will be in vain and all our 
good resolutions will sleep as sentinels over-wearied 
at their post if Thou, O God, art not vigilant for us 
during the year that is dawning before us. May 
we have clearer and truer conceptions of duty with 
each successive year until we are lifted up into the 
higher life. Amen. beecher. 

Eternity has no gray hairs. Here the flowers fade, 
the heart withers, man grows old and dies, the world 
lies down in a sepulchre of ages. But time writes 
no wrinkles on the brow of eternity. 

[34S] 



December 

jfoummtf) 2Da^ 

The former things are passed away. — Revelation 21 .-4. 

GOD sometimes gives to man a guileless and 
holy second childhood, in which the soul 
becomes childlike, not childish, and the faculties, 
in full fruit and ripeness, are mellow without sign 
of decay. This is that sought- for land of Beulah, 
where they who have travelled manfully the Chris- 
tian way abide awhile, to show the world a perfect 
manhood. Life, with its battles and its sorrows, 
lies far behind them ; the soul has thrown off its 
armor, and sits in an evening undress of calm and 
holy leisure. Thrice blessed the family or neigh- 
borhood that numbers among it one of those not 
yet ascended saints. 

Shall I complain because the feast is o'er, 

And all the banquet lights have ceased to shine ? 

For joy that was and is no longer mine ; 
For love that came and went, and comes no more ; 
For hopes and dreams that left my open door ; 

Shall I, who hold the past in fee, repine ? 

Nay ! there are those who never quaffed life's 
wine — 
That were the unblest fate one might deplore. 

LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. 

We are what the past has made us. The results 
of the past are ourselves. Robertson. 

[349] 



December 

fittttnti) 2Da£ 

These light afflictions are but for a moment. — 2 Corinthians 
4:17. 

THERE is no cup of joy so sweet but that if 
we hold it attently to our spirit's taste we 
shall detect in it the salt-flavor of tears. There is 
no laughter so silvery clear but that some quality in 
it shall suggest the cry of pain ; there are no eyes 
so bright with joy but that some gleam from their 
depths shall suggest the fountain of tears. Tragedy 
haunts the footsteps of happiness as night haunts 
the footsteps of day, and death is the dim shadow 
that glides inseparably and silently at the heels of 
all life. . . . 

What philosophy shall we bring to our support 
in the presence of all this ? What estimate shall 
we place upon life with all this sorrow in it ? . . . 
What is the answer of faith? Job rendered it 
thousands of years ago, "Though He slay me, yet 
will I trust in Him." j. t. McFARLAND. 

To every one on earth 
God gives a burden to be carried down 
The road that leads between the cross and crown ; 

No lot is wholly free, 

He giveth one to thee. 

Take thou thy burden then 
Into thy hands, and lay it at His feet, 
And whether it be sorrow or defeat, 

Or pain, or sin, or care, 

Oh, leave it calmly there. Marianne farningham. 
[3So] " 



December 

&ixttmt\) 2>a£ 

Nevertheless, afterward. — Hebrews 12: 2. 

NOW the pruning, sharp, unsparing ; 
Scattered blossom, bleeding shoot ! 
Afterward, the plenteous bearing, 
Of the Master's pleasant fruit. 

Now the spirit conflict-riven, 

Wounded heart, unequal strife ; 
Afterward the triumph given 

And the victor's crown of life. 

HAVERGAL. 

To maintain a steady and unbroken mind, amidst 
all the shocks of adversity, forms the highest honor 
of man. Afflictions supported by patience and sur- 
mounted by fortitude, give the last finishing stroke 
to the heroic and the virtuous character. Thus the 
vale of tears becomes the theatre of human glory ; 
that dark cloud presents all the beauties in the 
bow of virtue. Moral grandeur, like the sun, is 
brighter in the day of the storm, and never is so truly 
sublime as when struggling through the darkness of 
an eclipse. 

Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of 
peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. 
Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, 
sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes 
envy, subdues pride ; she bridles the tongue, re- 
strains the hand, tramples upon temptations, en- 
dures persecutions. royal path of life. 
[351] 



December 

&thznttmt\) 2T>ap 

A man of sorrows. — Isaiah 13:3. 

IF Jesus had walked in paths that were without 
stone or thorn, and with eyes that were never 
tear-stained and a heart that was never grief-rent, 
He might be to us a vision of radiant beauty, but 
we could never understand Him nor feel that He 
understood us. But the wound in the hand which 
He extends to us, and the sorrow underlying the 
smile of the face which He turns toward us, give 
us mutual understanding. Now we can believe 
that He understands our tears, and our heartaches, 
and our agonies. It is the deep-laid cable of 
sorrow which runs under the great salt-sea of tears, 
and along which throb flashes of pain, that binds 
together the continents of life. . . . 

He trod the wine-press of the wrath of God 
alone. Gathering about Him the folds of sorrow 
as heavy and sombre as the gloom with which the 
starless midnight mantles the hills, bearing the sins 
of the world in His martyr-heart, He went down 
into the valley and shadow of death, that the gates 
of Paradise might be opened to repentant sinners. 
Behold the Man — "a Man of sorrows, and ac- 
quainted with grief! " j. t. mcfarland. 

O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy heart, 

What sins were laid on Thee ! 
A victim led, Thy blood was shed — 

That blood avails for me. 

[352] 



December 

(I];tgt)teetttl) H>ap 

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. — Proverbs io : 28. 

WE may be all wrong in our thoughts of the 
special form in which our blessings will 
come ; we can never be wrong about the blessing. 
It may be like the mirage, shifting from horizon to 
horizon as we plod wearily along, but the soul is 
bound to find at last the resting-place and the spring. 
A true hope we can touch somehow through all 
the lights and shadows of life. It is a prophecy 
fulfilled in part ; God's earnest-money paid into 
our hand that He will be ready with the whole 
when we are ready for it ; the sunlight on the hill- 
top when the valley is as dark as death ; the spirit 
touching us all through our pilgrimage, and then 
when we know that the end is near, taking us on 
its wings and soaring away into the blessed life. 

ROYAL PATH OF LIFE. 

Hope not so fearfully, 

Hope and be strong, 
Go thy way cheerfully, 

Though it be long. 

BELLE G. McAULEY. 

The sorrows, and hungering of the world change 
faces as they change hearts ; but with the righteous 
man the troubled clouds pass off and leave heaven's 
surface clear. dickens. 

L'353] 



December 

0rttttmti) 2Da^ 

The Lord preserveth the faithful. — Psalm 30 : 23. 

NEARLY one hundred years ago, there was 
a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, 
still known as the Dark Day — a day when the 
light of the sun was slowly extinguished as if by 
an eclipse. The legislature of Connecticut was in 
session, and as the members saw the unexpected 
and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared 
in the general awe and terror. It was supposed by 
many the last day — the Day of Judgment — had 
come. Some one, in the consternation of the 
hour, moved an adjournment. Then there arose 
an old Puritan legislator, Davenport Stanford, who 
said that if the last day had come he desired to 
be found at his post of duty, and therefore moved 
that candles be brought so that the House could 
proceed with its business. So, my son, when in 
the conflict of life the cloud and the darkness 
come, stand unflinchingly by your post ; remain 
faithful to the discharge of your duty. 

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 

To do the thing we deem 

Enjoined by duty ; 
To walk in faith nor dream 
Of questioning God's scheme 

Of truth and beauty. 

To those who long God's work to do, 
Ways are not scarce nor chances few, 

[354] 



December 

Bearing precious seed. — Psalm 1 26 : 6. 

IF in the soul's still garden-place 
A seed God sows — 
A little seed, it soon will grow, 
And far and near all men will know, 
For heavenly lands He bids it blow, 
The seed God sows. h. c. bunner. 

Make life a garden-spot with a hedge of roses 
round your little place of peace. . . . Plant within 
all precious seeds of love and kindness. So will 
the rough ground be made smooth for whoever 
passes that way. You would think it a pleasant 
magic if you could bid the dew fall in the drought, 
and say to the south wind, in time of frost, " Come 
thou south wind and breathe upon my garden, that 
the spices of it may flow out ! " And is there not 
a greater thing than all this ? 

One is waiting at the gate of your soul's garden 
to take your hand, and go down to see whether the 
vine has nourished and the pomegranate budded. 

So here we set a little seed 

And trust its tender boughs to Time ; 

To grow to touch the stars sublime ; 

For thus will grow each small, good seed. 

Set deep, where lilies ever nod, 

Walled round by everlasting snows, 

To grow as some great strong soul grows 

When growing upward to its God. 
[355] 



December 

XKtomtyMm E>a^ 

If it be possible let this cup pass' from me. — S. Matthew 
27:29. 

HOW oft, O Father, do we bring to Thee 
The prayer His lips made sacred : " Not 
this cup." 
My God, my God ! hast Thou forsaken me ? 

And must I drink this bitter portion up ? 
And then, when grief goes by and peace is won : 
Come grateful praises that Thy will is done. 

LUCY M. BLINN. 

Christians are sometimes perplexed and discour- 
aged because of their trials. They know not what 
God is doing with them. They fear that He is 
angry with them. But they are His workmanship. 
He is preparing them for their destination in the 
temple of His grace. These trials are applied to 
qualify and advance them. They will only perfect 
that which concerneth them. Howard was taken 
by the enemy and confined in prison. There he 
learned the heart of the captive, and his experience 
originating in his suffering, excited and directed his 
thoughts and led him into all his extraordinary 
course of usefulness and fame. " It is good for 
me," says David, " that I have been afflicted." " I 
know," says Paul, " that this shall turn to my salva- 
tion." " For our light affliction, which is but for a 
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." william jay. 

[356] 



Try hi?n every moment. — Job 7 : 18. 

TO realize the importance of moments, let us 
hear what God says about them : "In a 
moment shall they die," "We shall all be changed 
in a moment." Eternal issues may hang upon any 
one of them, but it has come and gone before we 
can even think about it. Nothing seems less within 
the possibility of our own keeping, yet nothing is 
more inclusive of all other keeping. 

Are they not the tiny joints in the harness through 
which the darts of temptation pierce us ? Only give 
us time, we think, and we should not be overcome. 
Only give us time, and we could pray and resist, 
and the devil would flee from us ! But he comes all 
in a moment ; and in a moment — an unguarded, 
unkept one — we utter the hasty or exaggerated 
word, or think the un-Christ-like thought, or feel 
the un-Christ-like impatience or resentment. So 
let us commit these slippery moments to God, and 
say, " Lord, keep them for me ! I cannot keep them 
for Thee." havergal. 

Catch the flying moments 

As they come and go, 
Hold them till the blessing 

In thy heart shall grow ; 
Lessons they will teach thee, 

Let them have their will, 
Let them leave their message 

And their work fulfil. m. c. o. 

[357] 



December 

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted 
like as we are, yet zvilhout sin. — Hebrews 4:15. 

TO be a savior, it is not necessary that you 
should commit the same crime as he whom 
you seek to rescue, but you must show that you 
have felt the same fierce temptation, and have 
barely escaped, so that you suffer with the crim- 
inal, almost as if you yourself were the reprobate. 
That brings you near, and gives you grasp, and 
clasp, and uplifting and transforming power. All 
these hair-breadth escapes from moral disaster, 
which you and I have hidden among the secrets that 
no other mortal knows about, are our best equipment 
for rescuing the perishing. We need not make spe- 
cific confessions, but we must suggest enough, so 
that he whom we approach shall, with a start of sur- 
prise, say, " Why, this man whom the world calls im- 
maculate has just missed being what I am ; he 
suffers with me ; he cannot bear to have me lost ; 
I will not be lost." This is the secret of moral 
leadership. The leader must have his baptism of 
grief and of tears. It is the suffering deeply cut 
into the heroic face that makes you always turn 
for one look more at Lincoln's picture in history, 
and Dante's picture in poetry, while in tragedy the 
central figure is that of the Man of Sorrows, whose 
lifting up on Gethsemane is drawing the world that 

Way. E. A. TANNER. 

[358] 



December 

I know whom I have believed. — 2 Timothy 1 : 12. 

YOU are certain to be assailed with troubles. 
No hurricane can strike a full-rigged ship 
more suddenly than storms of adversity may burst 
upon you. But if Jesus Christ is in your soul, you 
cannot suffer wreck. The anchor sure and stead- 
fast will hold you. People do not see what holds 
a vessel when the gale is sending the billows over 
her bows. The anchor is invisible, as it lies full 
many a fathom deep on the solid ground beneath 
the waves. So when we see a good man beaten 
upon with heavy adversities and yet preserving 
a cheerful spirit, we do not discover the secret of 
his serenity. " But the eye of God sees that there 
is an interior life hid with Christ in that soul which 
no storm can touch." 

There is many a bereavement, many a trouble 
that may strip a man of canvas or cordage, but 
never touch the solid strength of his godly char- 
acter. I have seen just such fast-anchored Chris- 
tians. THEODORE L. CUYLER. 



Oh, small shall seem all sacrifice 

And pain and loss, 
When God shall wipe the weeping eyes, 
For suffering give the victor's prize, 

The crown for cross ! whittier. 

[359] 



f&tomtyMt\) 2Da£ 

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord. — S. Luke 2 : 2. 

CHRISTIANS, stand at Bethlehem and open 
every door and window of your being Christ- 
ward. Look back. Look forward. Magnify Beth- 
lehem. Recount to your souls the things for which 
it stands. It stands for the " fulness of time." It 
stands for the fulfilment of glorious prediction. 
It stands for the coming of the Son of God Him- 
self into our nature. It stands for the glorious 
past and for the more glorious future. 

Let the Star shine. Let the Magi give gifts. 
Let the shepherds worship. Let the angel-faces 
flash out from the great dome overhead. Let the 
church-bells chime. Let the sacred harps and 
organs respond to the master-hand that sweeps 
their strings and flies over the keys, and let them 
turn the common air into praise. Let Christmas 
carols roll over this wide earth and echo among 
the stars. Let everything in heaven and earth 
shout " Hosanna to the Son of David ; blessed is 
He that cometh in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna 
in the highest." david gregg. 

O Holy Child of Bethlehem ! 

Descend to us, we pray; 
Cast out our sin and enter in, 

Be born in us to-day. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 

[360] 



December 

Thou shall remember all the zuay which the Lord thy God 
led thee. — Deuteronomy 8 : 2. 

WE thank Thee, O God, for the ministration 
of the year that is just closing. Our 
record is indeed sadly blotted, and if we look to the 
year only as we have marked it, it is not a year to 
be remembered nor sighed after as something to 
be brought back again ; but when we look at Thy 
way with us, it is a year robed in beauty — a year 
of divine love, of pardoning mercy, of gracious 
guidance. Thou hast held us up and carried us 
even as a mother carries her little child. And now 
we beseech Thee to guide us through the year 
upon which we are now entering. We are strangers 
to it ; we do not know one single path ; we are 
pilgrims, and wander up and down our several 
ways, but we commend ourselves to Thee to whom 
the darkness and the light are alike, and who seest 
the end from the beginning. beecher. 

Retrospect. 
He guided by paths that I could not see, 

By ways that I have not known ; 
The crooked was straight and the rough made plain 

As I followed the Lord alone. 

Never a watch on the dreariest halt 

But some promise of love endears ; 
I read from the past that my future shall be 

Far better than all my fears. 

[361] 



December 

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom. — Psalm 90 : 12. 

LOOKING calmly yet humbly for the close of 
my mortal career, which cannot be far dis- 
tant, I reverently thank God for the blessings vouch- 
safed me in the past, and with an awe that is not 
fear, and a consciousness of demerit that does not 
exclude hope, await the opening before my steps 
of the gates of the eternal world. 

HORACE GREELEY. 

The Sentinel Year. 

The bells are tolling in the towers of time 
Solemnly now, for midnight and for morn. 
Another sentinel year has passed his rounds 
And, weary of his watch, now grounds his arms, 
Gives up his post to the new sentinel, 
And gathers him to rest and to his dreams — 
Dreams of the strange things that his watch hath 
seen. william osborn stoddard. 

Look backwards ! from the hill-top and survey 
Thy days of toil, of peaceful victories won, 

Of dreams made real, of largest hopes outrun ! 

Look forward ! brighter then earth's morning ray 
Streams the pure light of Heaven's unsetting sun, 

The all-unclouded dawn of life's Immortal Day. 

HOLMES. 

[362] 



December 

/ sleep, but my heart zvaketh ; it is the voice of my beloved 
that knocketh, saying, Open to me. — Song of Solomon 5 : 2. 

LOVE in this world is like a seed taken from 
the tropics and planted where the winter 
comes too soon; and it cannot spread itself in 
flower- clusters and wide twining vines, so that the 
whole air is full of the perfume thereof. But there 
is to be another summer for it yet. Care for the 
root now and God will care for the top by-and-by. 
Our sweetest experiences of affection are meant to 
be suggestions of that realm which is the home of 
the heart. beecher. 

With love as a guide, 
Every day is a fresh beginning ; 
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, 
And spite of old sorrow and older sinning, 
And puzzles forecasted and possible pain, 
Take heart with the day and begin again. 

Love should be the supreme thing, because it is 
going to last ; because in the nature of things it is 
Eternal Life. drummond. 

I hold it true, whate'er befall ; 

I feel it, when I sorrow most ; 

Tis better to have loved and lost 
Than never to have loved at all. 

TENNYSON. 

[363] 



December 

Reaching forth unto those things which are before. — Philip- 
pians 3: 13. 

THE time will come when these shoes which 
we wear now, lest we be cut of the sharp 
places of this world, shall be taken off, and with 
unsandalled feet we will step into the bed of the 
river; with feet untrammelled, free from fatigue 
and pain, we will gain that last journey ; then, with 
one foot in the bed of the river, and the other foot 
on the other bank, we struggle upward ; that will 
be heaven. talmage. 

" Heimgang ! " So the German people 

Whisper when they hear the bell 
Tolling from some gray old steeple, 

Death's familiar tale to tell ; 
When they hear the organ dirges 

Swelling out from chapel dome, 
And the singers chanting dirges, 

" Heimgang ! " always going home. 

" Heimgang ! " Quaint and tender saying, 

In the grand old German tongue, 
That hath shaped Melanchthon's praying, 

And the hymns that Luther sung ; 
Blessed is our loving Maker, 

And where'er our feet shall roam, 
Still we journey towards " God's acre," 

" Heimgang ! " always going home. 

A. J. DUGANNE. 

[364] 



December 

GHjirttetij SDay 

/ am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. — Reve- 
lation 21 : 6. 

Thoti shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led 
thee. — Deuteronomy 8 : 12. 

I DOUBT not that there are very many to whom, 
as they look through the year, it seems like 
some old cathedral that once was resonant with 
music, and radiant with altar fires, and filled with 
the glory of God, but that now stands with the roof 
broken in, with the windows out, with the altar 
desolate, with the priest gone, with the congrega- 
tion dispersed. 

Look again. Turn back and see if there has been 
nothing in the year but the transient. Although 
individual histories and experiences and feelings 
have been fluctuating and changing, yet the great 
framework of God's purposes of mercy and love 
and justice and humanity has stood sure, and is 
unchanged and unchangeable. beecher. 

He was better to me than all my hopes, 

He was better than all my fears ; 
He made a road of my broken works, 

And a rainbow of my tears. 
The billows that guarded my sea-girt path, 

But carried my Lord on their crest ; 
When I dwell on the day of my wilderness march 

I can lean on His love for a rest. 

ANNA SHIPTON. 

[365] 



December 

FEAR death ? — to feel the fog in my throat, 
The mist in my face, 
When the snows begin, and the blasts denote 

I am nearing the place ? 
The power of the night, the press of the storm, 

The post of the foe ; 
Where he stands, the Arch-Fear in a visible form, 

Yet the strong man must go : 
For the journey is done and the summit attained, 

And the barriers fall, 
Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained, 

The reward of it all. 

I was ever a fighter, so — one fight more, . 

The best and the last ! 
I would hate that death bandaged my eyes and for- 
bore, 

And bade me creep past. 
No ! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers, 

The heroes of old, 
Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears 

Of pain, darkness, and cold. 

For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave, 

The black minute's at end, 
And the element's rage, the fiend voices that rave, 

Shall dwindle, shall blend, 
Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain, 

Then a light, then thy breast, 
O thou soul of my soul ! I shall clasp thee again, 

And with God be the rest ! browning. 
[366] 



Printed under the supervision of 
D. B. Updike, 6 Beacon Street 
Boston, at the Norwood Press 



The poem, Living for Jestis, is used by permission of 
the John Church Company, owners of the copyright 



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